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India coronavirus: Why is India reopening amid a spike in cases?
May 31, 2020
India is roaring - rather than inching - back to life amid a record spike in Covid-19 infections. The BBC's Aparna Alluri finds out why.
On Saturday, India's government announced plans to end a national lockdown that began on 25 March.
This was expected - the roads, and even the skies, have been busy for the last 10 days since restrictions started to ease for the first time in two months. Many businesses and workplaces are already open, construction has re-started, markets are crowded and parks are filling up. Soon, hotels, restaurants, malls, places of worship, schools and colleges will also reopen.
But the pandemic continues to rage. When India went into lockdown, it had reported 519 confirmed cases and 10 deaths. Now, its case tally has crossed 173,000, with 4,971 deaths. It added nearly 8,000 new cases on Saturday alone - the latest in a slew of record single-day spikes.
Image copyright Getty Images Image caption Fast food chains like McDonald's have begun reopening outlets in parts of India.
So, why the rush to reopen?
The lockdown is simply unaffordable
"It's certainly time to lift the lockdown," says Gautam Menon, a professor and researcher on models of infectious diseases.
"Beyond a point, it's hard to sustain a lockdown that has gone on for so long - economically, socially and psychologically."
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