Even with India’s total infections nearing 27 million, Banerjee doesn’t believe the South Asian nation is close to herd immunity. “Lots of places remain relatively untouched, and that remains the basis for another wave," said Banerjee, who hopes the crisis will spur meaningful improvements to India’s health network. “There’s a tendency in the health-care system to favor opening fancy hospitals, which can be kind of newsworthy, over trying to do little things in little health centers." India’s total spending on health has remained almost stagnant at around 1.5% of gross domestic product in the last four years. Even so, Banerjee demurred on giving a detailed outlook on India’s economy.

Source: Mint May 26, 2021 01:52 UTC