India records deadliest day since the start of the pandemic

In India, 3,980 deaths from Covid-19 have been recorded in the past 24 hours. This makes it the deadliest day in the country since the start of the pandemic.

A record number of 412,262 new coronavirus infections were also reported. This is evident from figures from the Ministry of Health. Specialists fear that the worst is yet to come and that the epidemic will not reach its peak within weeks.

For the first time, the authorities in New Delhi have acknowledged that there may be a link between the so-called Indian variant – B.1.617 – and the country’s current peak of infection. However, that correlation has not yet been fully established, they say. This variant with double mutants has been found in samples in several severely affected states. For more than a month, New Delhi continued to deny that there was any connection.

The government’s top scientific adviser, K VijayRaghavan, warned Wednesday night that the third wave of Covid is inevitable. It is not clear when that third wave will emerge. He also admitted that the experts had not anticipated the intensity of the current peak. The number of corona cases in the Asian country had decreased slightly for a few days, but the infections increased again on Tuesday.

The coronavirus has already claimed 230,168 human lives, according to government data. India is also the first country where more than 400,000 infections were registered in one day. In the past two weeks, there have been more than 300,000 every day. The country now accounts for more than 21 million registered infections. Only in the United States were there even more.

Despite the dramatic numbers, Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government has not yet declared a general lockdown. Several regions, including the capital New Delhi and the states of Bihar and Maharashtra, have quarantined themselves. Nevertheless, these will not lead to a lower infection burden for the time being.

In the meantime, the vaccination strategy in India is faltering due to shortages and waste. Less than 2 million injections were taken in the past 24 hours.