India reports lowest rise in daily COVID-19 cases since April 14
India has reported lowest rise in daily COVID-19 cases since April 14, it gives hope that a devastating second wave is decreasing. Government leaders said shortages of vaccines were a big concern.
The Serum Institute of India, which is supplying the AstraZeneca vaccine, and local firm Bharat Biotech which is providing Covaxin, have both said they are ramping up production but the supply remains way short of the millions of doses India needs.
“Barely 3% of the country’s 1.3 billion people have been vaccinated.
“The lowest rate among the 10 countries with the most COVID-19 cases, leaving India and its ill-equipped healthcare system vulnerable to a potential third wave,” Experts said.
There are serious concerns that many new infections are not being reported, due to a dearth of testing in the countryside, where the virus has spread to from the cities.
The country reported 196,427 new COVID-19 cases over the last 24 hours, its lowest daily rise in infections since April 14.
The country’s overall officially recorded case load since the start of the pandemic now stands at 26.95 million. Less than half the 414,188 peak reported on May 7.
According to health ministry data, death due to COVID-19 amounted to 3,511 in the last 24 hours, bringing the total since the pandemic first stuck over a year ago to 307,231.
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