India adds lowest daily Covid-19 cases in nearly three months
New Delhi, June 20 (EFE).- India added less than 60,000 daily coronavirus infections on Sunday for the first time in almost three months after a devastating second wave of the virus that nearly collapsed its fragile healthcare infrastructure.
The federal health ministry data showed that laboratories across the country detected 58,419 cases in the last 24 hours, which is the lowest daily number in 81 days.
The total number of cases since the beginning of the pandemic in India now stands at 29.8 million.
It is the second-highest number after the United States (33.5 million infections).
India also added 1,576 Covid-19 fatalities over the past day, bringing the death toll to 386,713.
The figures indicate that the downward trend of the deadly virus outbreak has sustained in recent weeks after peaking in May.
The second wave, much was more aggressive and spread the disease faster than the first, took the daily cases from less than 10,000 in February to over 400,000 in May.
The spiraling number of daily cases overwhelmed the healthcare system of India.
There were long queues of Covid-19 patients waiting to get admitted to hospitals as the daily cases hovered between 300,000 and 400,000.
In hospitals, several patients died as they gasped for breath due to the lack of medical oxygen supply.
People also lined up outside crematoria as they jostled for space to cremate their loved ones.
The decline in daily infections and deaths has prompted the authorities to ease restrictions imposed during the second wave.
However, the federal government has warned state administrations that excessive relaxation could accelerate the arrival of a third wave.
“(The) easing of restrictions in some states have led to resumption of crowding of people in markets without adherence to the norms of covid appropriate behaviour,” Home Secretary Ajay Bhalla said in a letter to the heads of state governments.
Vaccination remains the best available defense to beat the coronavirus even as India struggled to get enough vaccines for its 1.35 billion people.
Indian health workers have administered 276 million vaccine doses since the campaign began in mid-January. EFE
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