India overtakes China in deaths, Delhi cases rise

With over 4,706 fatalities till now, India on Friday surpassed China in coronavirus deaths and has highest toll in Asia after Iran. China had reported 4,634 deaths.

After one of the most stringent and longest lockdowns, India also saw an all-time-high number of cases, with 7,465 fresh cases detected till Friday morning, taking the total to 1,65,799 cases. Of these, 89,987 are under treatment while 71,105 have been discharged. India now ranks ninth in overall Covid-19 infections.

According to John Hopkins data, India had 1,68, 387 cases and 4,806 deaths, while covid19India.org reported 1,68,610 cases and 4,810 deaths.

Delhi is becoming a major area of concern, with cases constantly rising. It saw a single-day spike of 1,024 cases, taking the tally to over 16,000. This is the first time over 1,000 Covid-19 cases reported in a day.

Delhi found itself in a new controversy as 69 more deaths were declared by different hospitals, which had occurred in the past. In all, 82 deaths were added in Delhi’s total tally in the last 24 hours.

Delhi’s Safdarjung Hospital, which earlier reported only four deaths due to Covid-19 till May 26, has now declared 52 more deaths. The hospital said these patients died due to co-morbid conditions.

The discrepancy came to light when the city’s cremation centres’ data did not match the Covid19 death tally.

Delhi deputy CM Manish Sisodia said 69 deaths were in the last 34 days. The total Covid-19 death toll in Delhi is 398, the state government said.

Karnataka recorded its single-day spike of 248 cases with returnees from Maharashtra continuing to add to the state’s tally, taking the count to 2,781 on Friday. Maharashtra has the highest numbers of cases (69,546) and deaths (2,598) as more cases are reported from Dharavi.