Pangolin set free in China
India’s Covid-19 cases rise to fourth highest in the world
INDIA’S coronavirus caseload has become the fourth highest in the world, overtaking the UK, by adding 10,956 new cases in another biggest single-day spike.
India’s two-month lockdown kept transmissions low but in a large population of 1.3 billion, people remain susceptible and the campaign against the virus is likely to go on for months, said Balram Bhargava, director-general of the Indian Council of Medical Research.
The lockdown was imposed nationwide in late March but has eased since, and is now largely being enforced only in high-risk areas.
The spiking caseload came after India allowed the reopening of shops, shopping centres, factories and religious places.
Subways, schools, colleges and cinemas remain closed nationwide.
The increase reported yesterday raised India’s total cases to 297,535, including 8,498 deaths, according to the Health Ministry. The death toll increased 396 in the past 24 hours.
India’s number of confirmed cases is behind only the US, Brazil and Russia.
Mumbai, New Delhi and Chennai are the worst-hit cities in the country, and Mr Bhargava said urban residents have a greater chance of contracting the virus.
Infections in rural areas have office opened a preliminary investigation into racist insults and instigating racial hatred based on comments allegedly written in a private police Facebook group.
Website Streetpress published a string of offensive messages that it said were published within the group, but acknowledged it is unclear whether the authors were officers or people pretending to be police. Some of the reported comments mocked young men of colour who have died fleeing police.
Separately, six police officers in the city of Rouen are under internal investigation over racist comments in a private WhatsApp group. Both incidents have prompted public concerns about extreme views among French police. also surged after migrant workers who left cities and towns after they lost jobs returned to their home towns.
The Health Ministry said it was ramping up the capacity with daily testing of more than 145,000 people.
It also said that the total number of recovered patients has exceeded the active cases for the first time, with a recovery rate of nearly 49%.
ACTIVISTS in China have released a pangolin into the wild to celebrate new protections for the armadillo-like animal whose numbers in the country have dropped to near-extinction levels.
Efforts to halt the sale of pangolins in China have been buoyed by a rise in global awareness of the wildlife trade linked to the outbreak of coronavirus in Wuhan.