India Covid deaths top 250,000 as total infections hit 23 million
NEW DELHI—INDIA has confirmed 4,205 more deaths, setting another daily record and taking its official Covid-19 toll past 250,000 as it battles a ferocious surge in infections.
Around 370,000 new cases were added in the last 24 hours, pushing India’s total cases past 23 million, according to the health ministry. The figures are considered vast undercounts due to insufficient testing and records among other factors.
On Tuesday, authorities warned that nearly 90 percent of districts in the country are seeing a high positivity rate, sparking fears the coronavirus is spreading to India’s rural areas faster than during a surge last year.
Infections have swelled in India since February in a disastrous turn blamed on more contagious variants as well as government decisions to allow massive crowds to gather for religious festivals and political rallies.
Even though daily cases have shown very early signs of flattening, experts have cautioned authorities to not let down their guard. With nearly 4 million cases still active, health care systems remain strained with limited hospital beds, oxygen and medicine.
Many states have imposed their own restrictions to curb infections, and the southern state of Telangana became the latest to announce a 10-day lockdown on Tuesday. Calls and pressure for a nationwide lockdown have been mounting.
Thailand national prayer event
MEANWHILE, Buddhist monks in Thailand held a national prayer event Tuesday evening to boost morale as the country struggles to curb a surge of Covid-19 cases.
The national Office of Buddhism ordered all temples nationwide to hold the prayer event and issued a handbook with ceremonial chants used to banish danger and disease during Buddha’s era. The office said it was taking action because the country’s third wave of the coronavirus was affecting the minds and bodies of monks and other Buddhists.
Thailand’s Supreme Patriarch, Somdet Phra Maha Muniwong— head of the country’s Buddhist clergy—led a prayer session lasting about an hour from his temple in Bangkok, which was broadcast live by the government’s television station. The words to the chants were shown onscreen for viewers who want to pray along from home.
Thai health authorities earlier Tuesday announced 1,919 new cases of the disease, bringing the total to 86,924. They also announced 31 more deaths, bringing fatalities to 452. Most of its infections and deaths have occurred since April 1.