India, South America drive global cases to record highs
Lazaro Gamio and Alexandria Symonds
May 2, 2021 – 2.11pm
Share
New York/New Delhi | The number of new coronavirus cases worldwide has shot upwards since the beginning of March, more than doubling in two months, and for the past two weeks have exceeded their previous high in early January.
The average daily rate of new cases has now been above 800,000 for more than a week, largely driven by the uncontrolled outbreak in India, which set a global record of more than 400,000 new cases on Saturday.
India now accounts for more than 40 per cent of the world’s new cases and its death rate has followed the same dramatic curve, with more than 3000 people now dying every day. Analysts say those grim numbers are probably undercounted.
India sets pandemic record with more than 400,000 new cases pressherald.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from pressherald.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Published Sunday, May 2, 2021 9:06AM EDT NEW DELHI, May 2 (Reuters) India s new coronavirus cases dipped marginally on Sunday but deaths from COVID-19 jumped by a record 3,689, with one more state going into lockdown as the nation s creaky healthcare system is unable to cope with the massive caseload. Authorities reported 392,488 new cases in the previous 24 hours, pushing total cases to 19.56 million. So far, the virus has killed 215,542 people. India reported a record 401,993 new coronavirus cases on Saturday. Indian hospitals, morgues and crematoriums have been overwhelmed as the country has reported more than 300,000 daily cases for more than 10 days straight. Many families have been left on their own to scramble for medicines and oxygen. Dozens of people have died in the last week due to shortage of oxygen in hospitals in Delhi alone.
NEW DELHI (NYTIMES) - His Covid-19 task force didn t meet for months. His health minister assured the public in March that India had reached the pandemic s endgame .
A few weeks before that, Prime Minister Narendra Modi boasted to global leaders that his nation had triumphed over the coronavirus.
India saved humanity from a big disaster by containing corona effectively , Mr Modi told a virtual gathering at the World Economic Forum in late January, three tricolour Indian flags displayed in the background.
Now, a second wave has made India the worst-hit country in the world.
New infections have reached about 400,000 a day. Vaccines are running short. Hospitals are swamped. Lifesaving oxygen is running out. Each day, cremation grounds burn thousands of bodies, sending up never-ending plumes of ash that are turning the skies gray over some of India s biggest cities.