At 115,000 infections, India sets new daily Covid-19 case record
New Delhi, Apr 7 (efe-epa).- India recorded 115,736 Covid-19 cases in the last 24 hours, the highest number of new daily coronavirus infections in the country since the start of the pandemic.
India is seeing a second wave of the virus which has led several states including Maharashtra and the capital, New Delhi, to impose new restrictions.
India, which crossed six digits for the first time on Monday and is the world’s third worst affected country after the United States and Brazil, already has 12.8 million coronavirus infections, according to the health ministry’s data.
The Asian country also registered 630 deaths in a single day, raising the total number of deaths to 166,177.
The second wave in India comes after daily new cases fell in February to less than 10,000 and deaths to less than 100 deaths, following a peak of nearly 100,000 new daily cases in September.
This time, the coronavirus cases have been increasing faster than during the first wave.
This may be attributed to a relaxation of Covid-19 safety protocols with people reducing the use of masks and social distancing measures amid the sentiment that the worst of the disease was already over.
The authorities have also lifted most of the restrictions imposed in March last year.
However, in view of the latest figures, several states have announced new measures.
New Delhi’s government imposed a night curfew on Tuesday to restrict movement and the spread of the virus in the capital.
On Sunday, the western state of Maharashtra, where the maximum coronavirus cases are being recorded, announced a night-time curfew, weekend lockdown and the closure of businesses considered non-essential.
Meanwhile, India continues with its vaccination campaign, and has administered 87 million doses since January, with 3.3 million of them in the last 24 hours.
More than 10 million people have so far received both doses of the vaccine.
The government of India, which has a population of about 1.3 billion, aims to vaccinate 300 million people before the middle of the year with the AstraZeneca’s Covishield vaccine as well as the indigenous Covaxin, produced by local lab Bharat Biotech. EFE-EPA
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