India reported 276,146 total cases of COVID-19 on Tuesday with 7,750 deaths on the same day, according to real-time data tracked by the Johns Hopkins University. The country has become the world's fifth hardest-hit nation, overtaking Spain and Italy just a day after it reopened its public places.
New Delhi, which is home to about 16 million people, is now seeing an overwhelmed health system. Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia said Tuesday the capital city could see 550,000 infections by the end of July.
The defense ministry was even compelled to close its office as its top leader is undergoing quarantine. At the same time, a senior finance ministry official and India's top spokesman are confirmed to have COVID-19. More hotels are requisitioned to serve as COVID-19 temporary wards. Morgies and crematoriums are overwhelmed as we speak.
Amid all the chaos, doctors and public health experts said the worst is yet to come as the numbers are not showing signs of peaking in the near future. Case in point, the western state of Maharashtra now has more cases than China where the first case of coronavirus was detected.
The western state of Maharashtra has 85,975 coronavirus cases and 3,000 deaths due to the virus as of Tuesday. China, on the other hand, has 84,191 total cases and 4,683 deaths.
Mumbai, which has more than 18 million people, now has 48,549 cases or a fifth of the country's overall number of cases. The financial hub has 1,636 deaths so far.
Monday saw India's highest single-day spike at 9,983 new cases. More than 200 people died in 24 hours that same day.
The chaos took place as India decided to reopen its public places on Monday. The country allows the reopening of places of worship, restaurants, and shopping malls. In Delhi, for instance, the 400-year-old Jama Masjid mosque, one of India's biggest places of worship, opened its doors once again. Although there are physical distancing and other similar measures in place, experts doubt they are enough to stop the alarming rate of transmission in the country.
As the country continues with its fight against coronavirus, it is also dealing with a border problem in the Himalayas. India and China accused each other of breaching the Line of Actual Control or LAC in the border. The area has been central to a number of disputes between the two countries in the past. Reports claim that the actual situation at present is not being told with India's military telling media that conflict "has been peacefully resolved."
