The second wave of coronavirus infections poses a credit-negative threat to the economic recovery of India, rating agency Moody's Investors Services said.

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The countermeasures to combat the second wave risk is weakening the economic recovery, the global credit rating agency said.

However, the targeted nature of containment measures and rapid progress on vaccination will mitigate the credit-negative impact, it added.

India reported 1,61,736 new COVID-19 cases and 879 deaths in the last 24 hours, as per Union Health Ministry data. The total number of new cases rose by more than 1 lakh for the seventh straight day.

Moody's said that the second wave of infections presents a risk to its growth forecast for India.

Retail and recreation activity across India had dropped by 25 percent as of April 7 versus February 24, it noted.

The agency expects the impact on economic activity to be less severe than in 2020 due to the micro-containment zone focus and believes the GDP growth is still likely to be in double digits in 2021 given the low level of activity in 2020.

Meanwhile, vaccination will be key element in managing the second wave, it said.

Under the vaccination drive, more than 37 lakh COVID-19 doses were administered on Monday, taking the cumulative doses given in the country to 10,82,92,423 so far.

First Published:Apr 13, 2021 11:16 AM IST