Cost of Covid-19: Life or Economy? Which one will suffer

With the possibilities of the re-imposition of lockdown making headlines, the people of the country have been experiencing mixed emotions. As the cases of Covid-19 have begun to rise, the threat to life of the millions of country-men has been put on the line. When the lockdown was lifted, people were terrified of stepping outside their homes, whereas today, situations have changed. The cases are still on a constant rise and people are no longer scared for their lives as the markets keep getting flooded with people.

Currently the Covid-19 cases in India have crossed the 9 million mark, out of which over 8 million are recovered and 136K being the death rate so far. As people have suffered, so has the Indian economy. The first lockdown, imposed on 24^th March’20, caused most of the sectors to shut down their work completely. This led to an economic recession across the country.

Chances are, the country’s economy might not be able to handle the second lockdown as it did the first. However, it will help India contain the virus and might even achieve full recovery of the Covid-19 patients.

On the other hand, if there is no lockdown, economy is likely to flourish but people will suffer greatly. India has more old age population than youth, which puts the senior citizens’ population at a greater risk. With the ongoing discussions about the re-imposition of another lockdown, the government has been able to steer clear on giving any definite statement on the same. Therefore, whether there will be another lockdown or not, remains to be a mystery for the time being.

Do you think the country is ready to survive through another lockdown? If yes, then what about the economy? If no, then what about the lives that we would be putting at stake?