South Asia crosses 30m Covid cases

Coronavirus infections in the South Asia region surpassed 30 million yesterday, according to a Reuters tally of official data, led by India which is struggling with a second Covid-19 wave and a vaccine shortage across the region.

India, the second most-populous country in the world, this month recorded its highest Covid-19 death toll since the pandemic began last year, accounting for just over a third of the overall total.

The South Asia region - India, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Bhutan, Nepal, Maldives and Sri Lanka - accounts for 18% of global cases and almost 10% of deaths.

But there is growing suspicion that official tallies of infections and deaths are not reflecting the true extent of the problem.

The country's official tally of daily coronavirus infections has been falling in the past few days, offering hope that its second wave is ebbing. But there are serious concerns that many new infections are not being reported, largely due to a dearth of testing in the countryside.

As of yesterday, India has reported nearly 27.6 million cases and 318,895 deaths. Daily infections reported across India have more than halved from more than 400,000 earlier this month, according to official statistics.

Meanwhile, amid rising incidents of black fungus in the national capital, the Delhi government on Thursday declared it an epidemic with Lt Governor Anil Baijal issuing regulations under the Epidemic Diseases Act to contain and manage cases of the deadly mucormycosis in the city.

According to a senior official, 153 cases of black fungus were recorded on Thursday, taking the total number of such cases in Delhi to over 770.

However, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal yesterday said Delhi will begin unlocking gradually from Monday as the positivity rate has been around 1.5 percent with only 1,100 new cases were reported in 24 hours.

The pandemic has killed at least 3,513,088 people worldwide since the virus first emerged in December 2019, according to an AFP compilation of official data yesterday.

In Britain, authorities yesterday approved the use of a fourth Covid vaccine, hoping  to boost a countrywide inoculation drive to allow its economy to reopen  fully despite concerns about a new variant.

The Medicines and  Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) approved the single-shot  Johnson & Johnson jab, after previously backing the Pfizer,  AstraZeneca and Moderna shots.

Meanwhile, the Covax global vaccine-sharing programme said Thursday it needs $2.0  billion in additional funding by the beginning of June in order to boost  coronavirus inoculation programmes in lower-income countries.

In Japan, 's government yesterday extended a coronavirus emergency in Tokyo and other parts of the country until just a month before the Olympics, fuelling doubts about whether the Games can go ahead safely.

And in Malaysia, government announced it will impose a nationwide lockdown for the first time in over a year as it battles a rapidly escalating coronavirus outbreak that has strained the country's healthcare system.