Free Republic

With a population of nearly 1.4 billion people, India's massive caseload does not surprise experts. The country's delayed response to the virus forced the government to implement a harsh lockdown in late March. For more than two months, the economy remained shuttered, buying time for the underfunded healthcare system to prepare for the worst. But with the economic cost of the restrictions rising, authorities saw no choice but to reopen activities. In rural Maharashtra, the worst-affected state with 863,062 cases and 25,964 deaths, doctors said measures like wearing masks and washing hands had now largely been abandoned. "There is a...

BERLIN (AP) — Germany's finance minister said Tuesday he expects the number of people out of work in Europe's biggest economy to climb over the politically sensitive 4 million mark this winter. Hans Eichel, addressing parliament a day ahead of the release of November unemployment figures, defended the center-left government's economic record as he told parliament that ``this winter, the jobless figure will again exceed 4 million, and I fear clearly so.'' In October, 3.93 million Germans were out of work — a jobless rate of 9.4 percent, down from 9.5 percent in September. Last February, the jobless figure reached...