India records lowest daily Covid-19 cases in almost 8 months

New Delhi, Oct 18 (EFE).- India recorded Monday just over 13,000 daily cases of Covid-19, the lowest in nearly eight months, after the country of more than 1.35 billion people became the global epicenter of the pandemic in mid-May.

The 13,596 cases detected in the last 24 hours are the lowest in the last 201 days, according to a statement by the Ministry of Health.

India now has recorded a total 34 million confirmed cases since the start of the pandemic, second only to the United States, with almost 45 million infections.

The South Asian country also recorded 166 deaths from Covid-19 in the last 24 hours taking the total count of fatalities to 452,290, only behind Brazil and the US.

However, experts have pointed out that the official data do not reflect the real number of deaths and infections, an assertion that Indian health authorities have repeatedly rejected.

The figures also come in stark contrast to predictions by experts of a possible third wave of infections in October due to new variants in the country.

As for the vaccination campaign, considered by the Indian authorities as the last hope against the pandemic, the country has already administered 977 million jabs since January, 1.2 million of them in the last 24 hours.

Almost 100 million people have received at least one dose of the vaccine, while at least 282 million have been administered both doses. EFE

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