Health

India records lowest daily Covid-19 cases in 5 months

New Delhi, Aug 23 (EFE).- India recorded Monday just over 25,000 cases of the coronavirus, the lowest figure in five months, after this country of 1.35 billion people became the global epicenter of the pandemic in mid-May, according to the health ministry.

With a total of 25,072 confirmed cases in the last 24 hours, India reported the lowest number of infections in 160 days, compared to the record of more than 400,000 cases a day at the peak of the pandemic three months ago.

The number of deaths confirmed by the Indian Government stands at 389 in the last 24 hours, much below the 4,500 daily fatalities in May.

The positivity rate in the country is currently 1.9 percent. The World Health Organization considers the pandemic to be under control when this rate is below five percent.

The total confirmed cases since the start of the pandemic stands at 32.4 million, including 434,756 deaths.

However, several experts have questioned the actual number of coronavirus deaths, suggesting it has been significantly under-reported by the Indian authorities.

According to a study by the nonprofit Center for Global Development last month, India recorded up to five million more deaths during the pandemic than the overall average, suggesting the excess deaths were due to Covid-19.

However, the Indian authorities have not accepted the report and labeled it as misleading.

Although the situation appears to have come under control, health experts have advised the people against lowering their guard over apprehensions of a third wave of the dreaded virus in the coming months.

So far, India has administered a total of 583 million doses of the Covid-19 vaccine since the drive kicked off in mid-January, and some 131 million people have already received both doses.

The authorities seek to immunize at least half the country’s population by the end of the year. EFE

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