India’s economy is suffering from long covid

THE SYMPTOMS are a peculiar mix. They include sluggishness, a general malaise, depression and an inability to focus. It is a bit like long covid. Except that the victim of this particular form of delayed recovery from the virus is not a person. It is India’s economy.

Some 4m Indians had died of covid-19 by the end of June, according to The Economist’s latest estimate of the real toll, endorsed in a new study published this week by Abhishek Anand and colleagues at the Centre for Global Development, a think-tank in Washington, DC. That is ten times as many as official figures show. It suggests the virus has been much deadlier in India than in hard-hit rich countries such as Britain and America, whose mortality rates looked roughly similar to India’s until its devastating second wave. So it is no surprise that the country is struggling to get back on track.