India’s new Covid-19 cases dip to 70,000, lowest in 74 days
New Delhi, Jun 14 (EFE).- India on Monday added 70,421 new coronavirus infections, the lowest in the last 74 days, with many states beginning to relax restrictions imposed ahead of the peak of the devastating second wave of the virus.
However, the number of daily fatalities continues to be very high, with 3,921 deaths reported in the last 24 hours, the health ministry data showed.
The new deaths took the overall fatalities to 374,305 in the country that has recorded the second-highest number of Covid-19 cases with more than 29.5 million infections since the pandemic began last year.
The country is witnessing a steady decline in the number of daily infections after adding more than 400,000 new cases for five days in a row in early May during the peak of the second wave.
India, in general, is experiencing a steady and rapid decline in cases, having passed the peak of the second wave of the disease in mid-May.
The increasing number of daily infections in March-April also brought the fragile health system of India to the brink of collapse.
Crematoria across the country were overwhelmed with the surging number of daily fatalities during the second wave.
It triggered speculations that the government was underreporting India’s Covid-19 infections and deaths.
The highest number of deaths over the past day, 2,771, took place in the western state of Maharashtra, the home to India’s financial capital of Mumbai.
The numbers in Maharashtra are high because the government has reviewed the data of the previous weeks.
New Delhi, one of the worst-affected regions with almost 30,000 new cases every 24 hours during the second wave, added 255 new infections and 23 deaths on Monday.
The significant decline led the city authorities to ease the restrictions imposed in April end.
The government has allowed shops and restaurants in the national capital to open from Monday.
Authorities and experts agree that inoculating the population is the best defense against the virus outbreak in the second-most populous country with 1.35 billion people.
But the country has also vaccinated nearly 5 percent of its population amid short of vaccine supplies.
India has so far administered 254 million doses. EFE
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