India’s daily Covid cases top 100,000
India has reported a record rise in coronavirus infections, becoming only the second country after the United States to register more than 100,000 new cases in a day, as hospitals in its worst affected state are overrun by patients.
Maharashtra, home to India's financial and entertainment capital Mumbai, recorded nearly 60,000 cases in the last 24 hours.
The struggling state authorities tightened the evening curfew to allow only people involved in essential services out of their homes from 8:00 pm to 7:00 am.
The region of 110 million people will also see weekend lockdowns, with gatherings of over four people banned and places of worship and restaurants shut.
In Mumbai over the weekend, one of Bollywood's biggest stars, Akshay Kumar, became the latest celebrity to test positive.
The shooting of the religious epic "Ram Setu" that Kumar was making was halted after 45 crew members also tested positive.
"How long shooting remains halted depends on Akshay Kumar's recovery. We can replace all our crew members, but we cannot replace the star of the film," Ashok Dubey from the Federation of Western India Cine Employees told AFP.
Kumar, 53, tweeted meanwhile that he had been hospitalised "as a precautionary measure under medical advice".
"The new variant, or variants of concern, probably explains a lot of it, rather than simplistic explanation of behaviour," said Rajib Dasgupta, head of the Centre of Social Medicine & Community Health in New Delhi's Jawaharlal Nehru University.
India has found hundreds of cases of the virus variants first detected in the United Kingdom, South Africa and Brazil.
Subhash Salunke, a former WHO official who advises Maharashtra on its Covid-19 strategy, said cases in the state would continue to rise for another couple of weeks. He said a way out was vaccinating all adults in its hardest-hit cities such as Mumbai, Pune and Nashik.
"If we start doing this, by the end of April we will see a downward trend," he said.
AWARENESS
Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government is anxious to avoid imposing a new national lockdown after a shutdown in March 2020 caused widespread human and economic misery.
Modi on Sunday chaired a high-level meeting and a statement afterwards announced an awareness campaign from April 6-14 "with emphasis on 100-percent mask usage, personal hygiene and sanitation at public places/workplaces and health facilities."
In the capital New Delhi, the chief minister has ruled out a new lockdown despite the surge in cases. Police say they are issuing more fines to people not wearing masks.
"The fear of Covid-19 has gone away. Most people don't wear masks properly, including many of my passengers," auto-rickshaw driver Surjit Singh, 68, told AFP.
India has so far administered almost 80 million vaccine shots. Last week, it opened up vaccinations to all those over 45 years old to speed up its flagging national inoculation drive.
MASS TESTING
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said yesterday everyone in England will be able to take a Covid-19 test twice a week in a new drive to track the pandemic as society reopens and the vaccine rollout continues at its rapid rate.
Johnson, who is expected to confirm plans to relaunch international travel and open sections of the economy, said the new mass testing programme would break the chain of transmissions and spot cases without symptoms.
As much of Europe enters new lockdowns to tackle surging cases, Johnson has set out a staggered plan to ease restrictions in the coming months, a huge boost for one of the worst-hit countries during the pandemic, reports Reuters.
"As we continue to make good progress on our vaccine programme and with our roadmap to cautiously easing restrictions underway, regular rapid testing is even more important to make sure those efforts are not wasted," Johnson said in a statement.
Junior health minister Edward Argar said the tests would be sent to homes or businesses, or picked up from pharmacies or test centres. He said he was confident people would isolate.
"People are doing the right thing," he told Sky News.
Portugal yesterday reopened museums, cafe terraces and secondary schools nearly two months after tightening Covid-19 curbs following a wave of cases early this year.
Greece also relaxed a nationwide lockdown by opening most retail shops despite a high level of Covid-19 infections and fatalities.
By allowing people to "decompress" outside their homes as the weather improves, the government hopes to also stem damage to the economy that has taken a major revenue blow from reduced tourism.
Comments