MUMBAI (Reuters) – India on Friday became the third largest country in the world to register more than a million cases of the new coronavirus, only the United States and Brazil, as the infections spread further to the countryside and small towns.
According to Mavens, with a population of approximately 1.3 billion people in India, one million is small; however, that number will increase dramatically in the coming months as the tests increase, forcing a fitness formula that is already on the brink.
The pandemic has erupted in the country in recent weeks as it is beyond the largest cities, pushing India into Russia as the third largest inflamed country last week.
The authorities imposed new blockades and designated new containment zones in several states this week, largely adding rural Bihar to the east and generation south of Bangalore, where the instances have increased.
But officials fought to the locks and kept other people inside.
India recorded 34,956 new infections on Friday, taking the total to 1,003,832, with 25,602 deaths from COVID-19, federal health ministry data showed. That compares to 3.6 million cases in the United States and 2 million in Brazil – countries with less than a third of India’s population.
Epidemiologists say India is still in months after peaking.
“In the coming months, we are bound to see more and more cases, and that is the natural progression of any pandemic,” said Giridhar Babu, epidemiologist at the nonprofit Public Health Foundation of India.
“As we move forward, the goal has to be lower mortality,” he said. “A critical challenge states will face is how to rationally allocate hospital beds.”
The last four months of the pandemic sweeping India have exposed severe gaps in the country’s healthcare system, which is one of the most poorly funded and has for years lacked enough doctors or hospital beds.
The Indian government has defended a strict lockdown it imposed in March to contain the virus spread, saying it helped keep death rates low and allowed time to beef up the healthcare infrastructure. But public health experts say shortages remain and could hit hard in the coming months.
“As a public health measure, I don’t think the lockdown had much impact. It just delayed the virus spread,” said Dr. Kapil Yadav, assistant professor of community medicine at New Delhi’s premier All India Institute of Medical Sciences.
The million cases recorded so far have put aside many asymptomatic cases, he said. “This is a cheeky understatement.”
Rahul Gandhi, leader of the congressional opposition party, suggested Prime Minister Narendra Modi take concrete steps to involve the pandemic, tweeting that the number of infections will double to two million until August 10 at this rate.
Millions of migrant painters, stranded in the cities during the closing of March, made long journeys home on foot, some died along the way while others left paintings or paid.
Several states, adding Bihar, where many migrants have returned, have noticed an increase in the number of cases in recent weeks, as the blockade has eased to save a declining economy.
Babu predicts that India will not revel in a brutal beak and decline.
“Waves move from one position to another, so we can’t say there will be a peak for the whole country. In India, it will be a plateau held for a while, then it will decrease.”
Zeba Siddiqui reports from Mumbai; Additional reports through Chandini Monnappa, Derek Francis and Abhirup Roy; Editing through Sanjeev Miglani and William Mallard
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