India records first drop in Covid-19 cases in a week
New Delhi, Apr 27 (EFE).- India recorded Tuesday 323,144 coronavirus infections in the last 24 hours, almost 30,000 less than the previous day, marking the first drop in daily cases in a week, according to health ministry data.
The number of Covid-19 fatalities registered in the last 24 hours was 2,771, which is 41 less than a day before, marking the first decline in deaths in two weeks.
India is going through its worst phase of the pandemic and has so far recorded a total of 17.6 million cases and 197,894 deaths since it began last year, according to official figures.
The South Asian country has become the global epicenter of the pandemic as the coronavirus has spread at an alarming rate over the last few weeks with record number of infections and deaths.
This has resulted in a collapse in the healthcare system in the most affected regions such as the capital of New Delhi and the western state of Maharashtra.
World Health Organization chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus underlined Monday the “beyond heartbreaking” situation in India, which now accounts for more than one third of total infections worldwide.
The healthcare crisis has left images of packed hospitals and crowded cremation grounds, prompting international support and the announcement of aid from several countries.
A shipment carrying medical equipment, including 100 ventilators and 95 oxygen concentrators, arrived early Tuesday from the United Kingdom, Indian Foreign Ministry spokesman Arindam Bagchi announced on Twitter.
Moreover, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi had a telephone conversation overnight with United States President Joe Biden regarding the North American country’s commitment for aid.
During the conversation with Biden, Modi “underscored the need to ensure smooth and open supply chains of raw materials and inputs required for manufacture of vaccines, medicines, and therapeutics related to COVID-19,” said a statement posted on the Indian prime minister’s official Twitter handle.
India has pinned all hopes on its mass vaccination drive to come out of the pandemic. So far it has administered 142 million doses – 3.3 million in the last 24 hours – since the campaign kicked off in January. EFE
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