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More and more Indians have become better prepared in the last one month, as far as stocking of their ration, medicine or money is concerned, according to the IANS-CVoter COVID-19 Tracker.

With the second leg of the lockdown half way through and Prime Minister Narendra Modi saying it's a long haul, 57.2% respondents said they have less than three weeks of stock while 43.3% said they have a stock that will last beyond that

However, if one breaks into weeks, most respondents said they are prepared for a week's time. 24.5% respondents said they have ration, medicine or money to last a week. This is closely followed by 21.9 % respondents saying they are ready for a month.

Meanwhile, 20.4 % said they are ready for a couple of weeks. There are 15.8 % who said they are ready for more than a month with food, ration and medicine. A tiny 5.6 % said they are ready with three weeks of stock.

However, there is 12.3% who still seem to live on the edge with less than a week's preparation.

But, the biggest takeaway from the IANS-CVoter COVID-19 Tracker is that in the last one month, a massive segment of society realised that the fight is long and the preparation should also be to last that long.

o put things into context, on March 16 when the tracker started, a whopping 77.1% said they have stock to last for less than a week. More than a month later on April 21, that number jumped to just 12.3%, which essentially means, people have become better prepared for a long-hauled lockdown period.

Similarly, on April 21, a sizable 21.9% respondents claimed they are ready with ration and medicine that will last them a month. On March 16, not even one respondent could claim they have a month's stock. In fact till March 22, just ahead of the announcement of the first lockdown, no respondent the IANS-CVoter tracker said that they have a month's preparation.

Similarly, when the tracker started, 9.9% said they simply ‘don't know'. As on April 21, that number is a big zero.

May 18: Goldman Sachs expects India will experience its deepest recession ever after a poor run of data underscored the damaging economic impact of lockdowns in the world’s second-most populous nation.

Gross domestic product will contract by an annualized 45% in the second quarter from the prior three months, compared with Goldman’s previous forecast of a 20% slump. A stronger rebound of 20% is now seen for the third quarter, while projections for the fourth quarter and first of next year are unchanged at 14% and 6.5%.

Those estimates imply that real GDP will fall by 5% in the 2021 fiscal year, which would be deeper than any other recession India has ever experienced, Goldman economists Prachi Mishra and Andrew Tilton wrote in a note dated May 17.

India’s government has extended its nationwide lockdown until May 31, while further easing restrictions in certain sectors to boost economic activity, as coronavirus cases escalate across the country. The announcement followed Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman’s fifth briefing in as many days, in which she outlined details of the country’s $265 billion virus rescue package, which is equivalent to 10% of India’s GDP.

 “There have been a series of structural reform announcements across several sectors over the past few days,” the Goldman economists wrote. “These reforms are more medium-term in nature, and we, therefore, do not expect these to have an immediate impact on reviving growth. We will continue to monitor their implementation to gauge their effect on the medium-term outlook.”

Infections are surging across the South Asian nation of 1.3 billion people, with more than 91,300 infections, including 2,897 deaths as of Sunday, according to data from Johns Hopkins University.

Visakhapatnam, May 7: Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy on Thursday announced an ex- gratia payment of Rs one crore each to the kin of those killed in the styrene gas leak incident at LG Polymers Limited near here.

The NDRF had put the death toll from the leak at 11.

The chief minister announced a committee to probe into the mishap and also said the government would talk to the LG Polymers management seeking job for the kin of the deceased in any of its businesses.

Speaking to reporters after conducting a review meeting, Reddy also announced Rs 10 lakh each to those undergoing treatment on ventilator support and Rs 25,000 to those who took treatment as out-patients after developing health complications due to inhalation of the styrene vapour.

Earlier, he held a review meeting at the Andhra Medical College with District Collector Vinay Chand and others.

The gas leak victims undergoing treatment in various hospitals would be paid Rs one lakh each. The 15,000-odd population in the five villages that were affected by the gas leak would be paid Rs 10,000 each, the chief minister added.

Reddy further announced constitution of a high-level committee, headed by the Special Chief Secretary (Environment and Forests), to probe into the mishap and make recommendations to prevent such tragedies in the future.

Earlier, he visited the King George Hospital and consoled the victims of the gas leak.

Accompanied by his Deputy holding the health portfolio A K K Srinivas and Chief Secretary Nilam Sawhney, Reddy flew down to the port city and went straight to the KGH.

He met the gas leak victims undergoing treatment and enquired about their well-being.

At the review meeting, the Collector informed the Chief Minister that the gas spread was limited to a 1.5 to 2 km area from the epicentre of the leak and that the locals were evacuated to safety.

Of the two styrene tanks in the plant, the leak occurred from one that was holding about 1,800 kilo litres of the chemical.