COVID-19: India reports 343,144 new infections, 4,000 deaths

India recorded 4,000 deaths and 343,144 infections in the last 24 hours. It was the third consecutive day of 4,000 or more deaths but daily infections have stayed below a peak of 414,188 last week

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This was according to the India ministry health data, stating total number of recorded infections crossed 24 million, the number of people confirmed to have died from Covid-19 stood at 262,317 since the pandemic first struck India over a year ago.

Bhramar Mukherjee, a professor of epidemiology at the University of Michigan, said most models had predicted a peak this week and that the country could be seeing signs of that trend.

Still, the number of new cases each day is large enough to overwhelm hospitals, she said on Twitter on Thursday. ‘The key word is cautious optimism.’

The situation is particularly bad in rural areas of Uttar Pradesh, India’s most populous state with a population of over 240 million. Television pictures have shown families weeping over the dead in rural hospitals or camping in wards to tend the sick.

Bodies have washed up in the Ganges, the river that flows through the state, as crematoriums are overwhelmed and wood for funeral pyres is in short supply.

MTO/Reuters