57% of India under curbs as deaths soar on Black Friday

Record cases added across the country even as tighter restrictions kick in

NEW DELHI: India recorded 1,340 deaths due to Covid-19 in a single day on Friday, setting a new record for daily deaths as the devastating statistics of recent days came into stark focus with a steady stream of bodies pouring into cremation and burial grounds, and people seen lining up in a desperate wait for beds outside hospitals.

The country added 233,869 cases on Friday -- the most it ever has in a single day.

The crisis has forced much of the country to retreat into some form of curbs, which will restrict more than half of India’s population (57%) to their homes as curbs in 15 states and Union territories come into force in the form of for night or weekend curfews.

Prior to Friday, the last time India recorded the most number of deaths in a day was on September 15 when 1,284 people succumbed to the disease.

To be sure, on June 16, more than 2,000 deaths were recorded but that was due to Delhi and Maharashtra reconciling pending fatality data in a single day.

According to an analysis by HT, over the next two days, more than 700 million people across the country will be under either a curfew for a limited time period or one that extends 24x7 with largely only essential services allowed.

Such wide-ranging curfews have been necessitated as India’s second wave of Covid-19 is expanding throughout the country at a never-before-seen pace.

For the week ending April 16, India has reported 188,400 new cases every day – this is double of what was seen during the peak of the first wave (93,617 average daily cases for the week ending September 16, 2020).