India has the world’s second-highest number of cases just months after appearing to have the pandemic under control India reported its worst day of the coronavirus pandemic on April 25, with 349,691 new cases and 2,767 deaths in the previous 24 hours – the highest since the start of the pandemic.
The country is battling a deadly resurgence of the virus compounded by a healthcare crisis as hospitals run out of oxygen supplies and beds. At least 22 people died in a hospital after the oxygen supply was disrupted. As case numbers across the country soar, several countries banned travel to and from India, voicing concerns over the spread of a highly contagious “Indian variant” of Covid-19.
India is at risk of being overwhelmed, despite appearing to have brought the pandemic under control just months ago.By March 1, daily cases had dropped from a peak of almost 100,000 in mid-September to just 12,000 in a nation of more than 1.3 billion people.
The government lifted various partial restrictions and hoped its vaccination drive would bring a return to normal.
Instead, by mid-April daily infections had climbed to more than 250,000, with more than 1,000 people dying from Covid-19 every day.
“The situation was under control till a few weeks back, and then this second corona wave came like a storm,” India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi said.
Here is all you need to know about what went wrong – and how India’s crisis risks getting worse.
How bad is the second wave of coronavirus in India?
In short, very bad.
India has surpassed Brazil and has the second-highest number of total infections behind the US.
Thursday’s spike was the world’s highest daily increase in case numbers yet, and the surge shows no signs of slowing.Which areas of India are worst-hit by Covid-19?
All of India’s regions reported significant coronavirus outbreaks.
The worst-hit region is the central state of Maharashtra – home to more than 110 million people, including 18 million in the Mumbai urban area – which reported more than three million cases in total.
In Maharashtra state 22 Covid-19 patients died on April 21 when a hospital oxygen supply cut out for 30 minutes.
Several other states in southern India are also badly affected – Karnataka, Kerala, and Tamil Nadu all recorded more than a million cases each.
Comment here