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Covid-19: India accounts for world’s 46% infections, 25% deaths, says WHO

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Virendra Pandit 

New Delhi: Assaulted by a devastating second wave of Covid-19 for more than a month, India now accounts for nearly half of the pandemic cases and 25% of the deaths reported worldwide last week, the World Health Organisation (WHO) said on Wednesday.

On this day, the country’s coronavirus deaths rose by a record 3,780 during the last 24 hours.

In its weekly epidemiological report, the WHO said that India accounted for 46 percent of global cases and 25 percent of global deaths reported in the past week.

Daily infections in the country rose by 382,315 on Wednesday, data from the Union Ministry of Health showed, the 14th straight day of more than 300,000 cases.

India’s second deadly surge of Covid-19 cases has seen hospitals run out of beds and oxygen and crematoriums overflowing with corpses waiting for last rites. Many people died in ambulances and car parks waiting for a bed or oxygen.

Minister of Railways Piyush Goyal said two ‘Oxygen Express’ special trains reached New Delhi on Wednesday carrying desperately needed liquid oxygen. More than 25 trains have so far delivered oxygen to different parts of India.

India’s surge in infections has coincided with a drop in vaccinations due to supply and delivery problems, media reported. At least three states, including Maharashtra, have reported a scarcity of vaccines, shutting down some inoculation centers.

Meanwhile, the Reserve Bank of India asked banks on Wednesday to let certain borrowers have more time to repay loans as the surge in infections impacts a nascent economic revival.

Some reports citing medical experts said the actual number of dead and those infected in India could be five to 10 times the official tallies. The country added 10 million cases in just over four months, after taking more than 10 months to reach the first 10 million.

According to the health regulator Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), the daily testing in India has fallen sharply to 1.5 million, after hitting a peak of 1.95 million on Saturday last week.