India adds 14,300 Covid-19 cases, lowest in over seven months
New Delhi, Oct 12 (EFE).- India Tuesday registered 14,313 new coronavirus infections, the lowest daily rise in more than seven months after becoming the global epicenter of the pandemic in April and May.
The daily coronavirus infections have fallen below 15,000 in India for the first time since Mar.2.
Despite the decline, the country already has accumulated 33.9 million infections since the pandemic began last year, federal health ministry data showed.
The southern state of Kerala has added the highest number, nearly 7,000, to the cases registered over the past day.
The state saw a boom of infections, reaching more than 30,000 infections a day in August and September.
The health authorities said the virus claimed 181 life in the last 24 hours across the country, bringing the total number of deaths to 450,963.
Only the United States, with 44.4 million infections, is ahead of India in the overall caseload.
The infections and deaths registered in recent weeks are far below the record numbers during the second wave in the country of 1.35 billion people.
The second wave peaked in April and May when more than 400,000 cases and 4,000 deaths were recorded daily.
The highly infectious second wave of the disease brought the hospitals to the brink of collapse, with people jostling for space to cremate the dead.
Hospitals across the country suffered a shortage of medical oxygen and intensive care beds.
The health authorities have raised concerns ahead of the arrival of the festive seasons in the country that could spark a third wave of infections in India.
The limited availability of vaccines has slowed down the vaccination drive in India as “the pharmacy of the world.”
The country houses the largest vaccine factory but faced grave problems for months to supply its local demand.
India has administered 958 million anti-coronavirus vaccine doses so far.
Some 272 million people, or nearly 22 percent of the population, are fully vaccinated. EFE
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