Coronavirus update: India GDP contracted nearly 24% in April-June

India’s gross domestic product (GDP) contracted 23.9 per cent in the April-June quarter of 2020-21 from that in the same quarter last financial year, according to the official data released by the National Statistics Office (NSO) August 31, 2020, Business Standard reported. The contraction has been largely attributed to limited economic activity in the country due to the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic.

• This is the first instance of an economic contraction for the country in at least four decades.
• Gross value added (GVA) for the country declined by 22.8 per cent, manufacturing by 39.3 per cent, and mining by 23.3 per cent. The former President of India and Union minister of finance Pranab Mukherjee died August 31. According to Army Research and Referral hospital, his condition deteriorated and he was in a state of septic shock due to a lung infection. He was 84. 
• The SARS-CoV-2 virus had infected 25.4 million people across the globe as of August 31, according to worldometers. A total of 851,134 people have died so far.
• Union Home Minister Amit Shah, who was hospitalised for post COVID-19-care, was discharged this morning from AIIMS in Delhi. The 55-year-old had tested positive for coronavirus on August 2.
• India added a record 80,092 fresh COVID-19 cases on August 30, becoming the first country in the world to cross the 80,000-mark in one single day since the outbreak of the pandemic.
• Around 43 per cent of the total coronavirus cases in India have been recorded from just three states, Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka, the Union health ministry said.
• The West Bengal government extended the lockdown till September 30. Metro A complete lockdown will be observed in the state on September 7, 11 and 12, according to news agency Press Trust of India.
• The positivity rate of infection rose to nine per cent from six per cent in the beginning of August in national capital New Delhi. The city also reported 2,024 fresh cases — highest single-day increase since July 10.
• COVID-19 cases in the United States, the worst hit nation by the pandemic, topped six million August 30.
• The United States Food and Drug Administration said it could consider emergency authorisation to a vaccine before the completion of phase-3 human trials. In an interview to The Financial Times, FDA commissioner Stephen Hahn said it was up to the vaccine developers to apply for approval before phase-3 trials were over. The FDA would consider the application and not reject it for not having completed phase-3 trials.
• For every 1,000 people infected with SARS-CoV-2 who are under the age of 50, almost none will die. For people in their fifties and early sixties, about five will die — more men than women, according to a new research published in Nature. The risk then climbs steeply as the years accrue. For every 1,000 people in their mid-seventies or older who are infected, around 116 will die. These are the stark statistics obtained by some of the first detailed studies into the mortality risk for COVID-19.

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