India Records Over 1000 Deaths In 24 Hours After Surpassing Brazil’s COVID-19 Tally

INDIA. India records 1,133 deaths and 75,809 fresh cases in the last 24 hours, the Health Ministry data revealed, thus becoming the world’s new epicenter of the coronavirus surpassing Brazil’s COVID-19 tally with 4.2 million cases.

Health Ministry Data Reveals

On Monday, the Ministry informed that the COVID-19 recovery rate has risen to 77.31% with 69,564 patients recuperating from the disease in a day pushing the total number of recoveries to 3.25 million.

Despite the improving recovery rate (from 77.31% to 77.60%), the fatality rate due to COVID-19 remains elevated on Tuesday.

This comes after the Ministry on Sunday claimed that the fatality has dropped below 2% and is continuously falling.

For two consecutive days, India registered more than 90,000 cases per day and has been witnessing a spike in COVID-19 cases for a month now, the highest numbers recorded in the world, as per the World Health Organization (WHO).

Contrary to which, in a press briefing last week, Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan claimed that the country has the lowest cases per million people in the world.

He further said that the country has 2,792 cases per million population compared to 18,802 in Brazil and 18,986 in the United States.

India’s coronavirus case tally now stands at 42,80,442 with 20.9% active cases, according to NDTV.

India has so far recorded 71,642 deaths, which is significantly less than the death toll in Brazil (1.2 lakh).

With the increasing number of cases on a daily basis, the pandemic has overwhelmed an already-overworked healthcare system.

How the government is handling it

A healthcare expert talked to Transcontinental Times about the alarmingly rising cases of the virus which has made India the second worst-affected nation. “Yes, India has the second-highest cases of COVID-19 cases but there is a difference. India has one of the lowest mortality rates when it comes to COVID-19,” said Dr. Kunal Nath, Senior Consultant Neurologist.

On being asked if the government is tackling the situation the right way, Dr. Nath added, “India has developed a massive independent testing capacity, which reflects in the form of the increased number of testing. The government took the right decision to timely lockdown the country with a strong political will.

“India not only fulfilled its own massive demand for hydroxychloroquine, but it also supplied this life-saving drug to other needy nations.

“Hence, in spite of being home to the second-highest cases of COVID-19, given its population, India’s medical preparedness is amongst the best in the world.”

Economy vs COVID-19

Despite the virus spreading rapidly, the government has relaxed restrictions to get the economy back in shape.

On Monday, the Delhi Metro resumed operations after a gap of 5 months which is worrisome as its reopening comes at a crucial time for the Asian giant.

People who are asymptomatic are allowed to board the trains after mandatory temperature checks. They need to wear masks and maintain social-distancing properly.

Delhi’s metro network is the country’s largest rapid transport system that used to carry 2.6 million passengers on a daily basis before March. “We are on our way. It’s been 169 days since we’ve seen you!,” the official Twitter account of Delhi Metro tweeted.

On Sunday, India became the second-worst hit country globally after the United States (6.4 million infections), whose caseload is higher than that of India by nearly 2 million.

However, in India, the virus is spreading at a much faster pace as compared to any other country. Experts believe that the COVID-19 situation in India is yet to peak unlike the United States and Brazil, Money Control reported.

After registering 90,820 new cases on Monday, India overtook Brazil, which by far is the highest single-day increase in the number of coronavirus cases that any country has recorded across the world, according to National Public Radio.

Worldwide, the coronavirus cases have reached the 27-million mark, including more than 891,000 deaths and 18.2 million recoveries. The United States, India, and Brazil account for more than half of the world’s coronavirus cases.