India has over 400,000 cases of COVID-19 for fifth day in a row

India recorded more than 400,000 cases of coronavirus this Sunday for the fifth day in a row, in addition to reporting more than 4,000 daily deaths for the second day, a rate of infections and deaths that the Asian country cannot break.

The number of infections in the past 24 hours has risen to 403,738, or 2,600 more cases than yesterday, bringing the total number of infections since the start of the pandemic in the country to 22.2 million , according to the Indian Ministry of Health..

In addition, the death toll broke the 4,000 death mark for the second day in a row, registering 4,092 on the last day, 95 less than on Saturday, placing the total at 242,362, a global tally exceeded only by the United States and Brazil.

India remains the second country with the most cases behind the United States, with 32.6 million, although it has become the epicenter of the pandemic with the largest increase in daily cases due to a second wave that has been hitting for more than a month. the country.

The number of active cases stands at 3.7 million and the positivity rate at 22.7%, a sign that shows the severity of the pandemic in India, when just a month ago it was 10.3%.

The World Health Organization (WHO) considers the pandemic to be under control in a country if the positivity rate is below the 5% threshold.

To reduce this rate, it is essential to increase the number of tests, but Indian laboratories have collapsed, with long waits to be able to obtain a test whose results can be delayed by several days, making it impossible to control the disease. and quickly identify and isolate infected people.

In the past day, 1.8 million tests were performed, bringing the total since the start of the pandemic to 302 million, but the daily number has not increased significantly from last October, for example. , when 1.1 million tests were performed per day in a country that has recorded around 70,000 cases daily.

Faced with this situation in the country, where there are dramatic daily scenes in which hospitals are overwhelmed and cannot provide access to more patients for lack of beds or sufficient medical oxygen for the most serious cases, accelerate the campaign vaccination is seen as the only way out.

35 MILLION FULLY VACCINATED

For a week, this campaign increased the number of beneficiaries to the entire adult population, while in the previous phase it covered people over 45 years old, but the lack of sufficient vaccines prevented the vaccination rate from d ‘increase.

Thus, just over 2 million doses were administered on the last day, bringing the total since the start of the campaign in January to nearly 170 million doses.

Yet only 35.3 million of India’s 1.35 billion people have been completely inoculated with one of the country’s approved formulas, AstraZeneca’s Covishield, made by the Serum Institute of India (SII), or Covaxin. , From the Indian laboratory Bharat Biotech; to which is added the imported Russian Sputnik V.

(With information from EFE)

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