NEW DELHI (Reuters) -India reported on Monday a record increase in COVID-19 infections, becoming the second country after the United States to publish more than 100,000 new cases in one day, while politicians they organize massive electoral rallies that raise the fear of spreading viruses.
Patients invade hospitals in the most affected state, Maharashtra. The richest state in India, home to its commercial capital Bombay and numerous industries, reported a record 57,074 new cases overnight.
The country’s daily infections have increased about a dozenfold since a minimum of several months occurred in early February, when authorities eased most restrictions and people stopped wearing masks and then social distancing.
With 103,558 new infections, India has reported 12.6 million cases, the highest after the United States and Brazil, according to health ministry data. Deaths increased by 478, still one of the lowest mortality rates in the world, bringing the total to 165,101.
India has recorded the highest number of infections last week worldwide. Some epidemiologists say some more infectious variants of the virus may have played a major role in the second wave.
“The new variant, or variants of concern, probably explains a lot, rather than a simplistic explanation of the behavior,” said Rajib Dasgupta, head of the Center for Social Medicine and Community Health at Jawaharlal Nehru University in New Delhi.
India has found hundreds of cases of virus variants first detected in the UK, South Africa and Brazil.
Subhash Salunke, a former WHO official who advises Maharashtra on its COVID-19 strategy, said cases in the state would continue to rise for a couple more weeks. He said one outing was vaccinating all adults in the hardest hit cities like Mumbai, Pune and Nashik.
“If we start doing this, by the end of April we will see a downward trend,” he said.
VACCINE EXPANSION
India, the world’s largest vaccine maker, has injected 77 million doses at home since it began its campaign in mid-January, the third highest after the United States and China.
India’s per capita COVID-19 vaccinations, however, are lower than many other countries, including the most populous in China that began firing its citizens much earlier.
Currently, India vaccinates only people over the age of 45 as it has first covered health and front-line workers with the AstraZeneca and a government one.
At a meeting on Sunday with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, officials discussed further increasing the country’s vaccine production. The government has slowed vaccine exports in recent weeks, after sending more than 65 million doses.
“It was stressed that every effort is being made to get adequate quantities of vaccines to meet the growing national needs and to meet the real needs of other countries,” his office said in a statement here.
Although cases have increased exponentially in nearly a dozen states, politicians and ministers continue to address election rallies attended by tens of thousands of maskless people seeking space.
The health minister of the northeastern state of Assam, who is currently voting to elect a new government, was ridiculed on social media over the weekend after saying there was no need for masks in his state. and that wearing one harms companies like beauty salons.
Maharashtra will start closing shopping malls, cinemas, bars, restaurants and places of worship from Monday evening. Authorities will also impose a complete closure on weekends, as experts worry about the shortage of critical care beds in hospitals, especially in their smaller cities.
The increase in cases has dropped the stock market.
Global vaccination monitoring: here here))
(Interactive graphic tracking of the global spread of coronavirus: here here))
Reports of Rama Venkat Bengaluru and Neha Arora in New Delhi; Written by Krishna N. Das; Editing by Himani Sarkar and Michael Perry