As PM Modi Urges "Lockdowns Only As Last Resort", What Economists Say

India is now the world's second-worst hit country, lagging only the U.S., after reporting more than 200,000 daily new infections for the last six days.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who last year imposed a strict lockdown on short notice, asked states to avoid shutting businesses as India grapples with a new wave of Covid-19 infections that threatens a nascent economic revival. India is now the world's second-worst hit country, lagging only the U.S., after reporting more than 200,000 daily new infections for the last six days. "I urge states that they should consider lockdowns as the last option," PM Modi said in a televised address Tuesday. "They should earnestly try to avoid lockdown and focus on micro-containment zones." As infections rise the country's health system has been pushed to breaking point, with hospitals around the country reporting shortages of everything from intensive care beds to medical oxygen. Soaring new cases have forced both India's financial and political capitals to impose restrictions on movement, with New Delhi mandating a six-day strict lockdown starting Tuesday.