NEW DELHI: India is registering more than 10,000 COVID-19 infections and 70 deaths per hour, according to official data, with the government describing the alarming surge in cases as “very difficult” to manage for the country of 1.39 billion people.
On Wednesday alone, India had recorded 10,798 cases and 73 deaths per hour on average, taking the overall total to 259,170 infections and 1,761 fatalities – a significant jump from the 72,330 infections and 459 deaths reported on April 1.
Some media reports said that India’s latest data accounts for one in three new cases worldwide.
“The situation is tough . a very difficult situation for India,” Dr. Rajni Kant, spokesperson for the government’s premier medical research body, the Indian Council for Medical Research, told Arab News on Tuesday.
Is it mean population age? Is it a largely urban lifestyle rather than a well-ventilated rural one? 17 April 2021 - 08:00 Chris Kay and Andre Romani Gravediggers handle bags with bones during exhumations to open space on cement graves as new burials are suspended at Vila Nova Cachoeirinha cemetery amid Covid-19 in São Paulo, Brazil, April 1 2021. Picture: REUTERS/AMANDA PEROBELLI
London/São Paulo Facing a sudden surge in coronavirus infections, India is once again home to the world’s second-largest outbreak, overtaking Brazil after the latter moved ahead in March. But behind the bleak, statistical jockeying is an epidemiological enigma over why the Latin American country has been far more devastated by the pathogen.
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Passengers arrive at Anand Vihar terminal after Delhi government announces complete lockdown for six days due to surge in Coronavirus cases, in New Delhi on April 19, 2021.
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British Prime Minister Boris Johnson on Monday cancelled his visit to India, due on April 25-26, “in view of the prevailing COVID situation”, both governments announced. The decision was taken after weeks of discussions over how to proceed with the visit despite the pandemic, and last week officials had said he would cut short the duration and limit his travel to Delhi. With no let-up in the surge of cases in India, however, officials in London and Delhi decided by “mutual agreement” to call off the trip.
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PTI 19 April 2021 PTI outlookindia.com 2021-04-19T15:23:44+05:30
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India on Monday registered a record single-day rise of 2,73,810 new Covid-19 infections. Amid this second wave of the pandemic, many states are facing a shortage of hospital beds for coronavirus patients, oxygen cylinders and remdesivir injections, an antiviral drug used in the treatment of Covid-19.
Researchers believe that one of the key factors responsible for this Covid-19 resurgence in India is the increased rate of reinfections.
Second wave of coronavirus is ‘less severe’ than first, 70% of patients above 40, says ICMR chief
Balram Bhargava said the UK, Brazilian and South African variants of the virus have higher transmissibility. ICMR Director General Balram Bhargava. | PIB/Twitter
Indian Council for Medical Research chief Balram Bhargava on Monday said that the second wave of the coronavirus pandemic that has hit India was “less severe” than the first one, ANI reported. His comments come at a time when hospitals in India are struggling to contain the second wave of the pandemic, with shortages of beds, oxygen and key medicines reported across states.