Total cases in India nears 20 million
BENGALURU: India reported more than 300,000 new coronavirus cases for a 12th straight day, taking its overall caseload to just shy of 20 million, while deaths from Covid-19 rose by 3,417.
With 368,147 new cases over the past 24 hours, India’s total infections stand at 19.93 million, while total fatalities are 218,959, according to health ministry data yesterday.
Medical experts say real numbers across the country of 1.35 billion may be five to 10 times higher than the official tally.
Hospitals have filled to capacity, medical oxygen supplies have run short and morgues and crematoriums have been swamped as the country deals with the surge in cases.
At least 11 states and union territories have imposed some form of restrictions to try and stem infections, but Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government is reluctant to impose a national lockdown, concerned about the economic impact.
“In my opinion, only a national stay at home order and declaring medical emergency will help to address the current healthcare needs,” Bhramar Mukherjee, an epidemiologist with the University of Michigan said on Twitter.
“The # of active cases is accumulating, not just the daily new cases.
Even the reported numbers state there are around 3.5M active cases.”
Modi has been criticised for not taking steps earlier to curb the spread and for letting millions of largely unmasked people attend religious festivals and crowded political rallies in five states during March and April.
A forum of scientific advisers set up by the government warned Indian officials in early March of a new and more contagious variant of the coronavirus taking hold in the country, five scientists who are part of the forum said.
Despite the warning, four of the scientists said the federal government did not seek to impose major restrictions to stop the spread of the virus.
Meanwhile, several states have postponed widening a vaccination drive for adults that was to start on Saturday due to a lack of vaccines.