India's total COVID-19 infections breached the 4 million mark, making it the third nation in the globe to exceed the figure, next to the U.S. and Brazil. Some 86,432 new coronavirus infections were reported on Saturday, which is the world's highest daily record so far, India's health officials said.
India has notched the third-biggest number of confirmed COVID-19 cases of any country globally, with 4,023,179 confirmed infections as of Saturday afternoon. Infections were up in many parts of the country, including in the capital city of New Delhi and the populated regions of Karnataka and Maharashtra.
The U.S. still leads the most number of cases in the world with more than 6 million total infections, data by the Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Resource Center showed. India also marked the third-biggest number of mortalities from the disease, which has claimed nearly 70,000 Indians, although it is doesn't have as many deaths compared to the U.S. and Brazil.
While the country has loosened lockdown and other restrictions in an attempt to resuscitate the economy, India currently has the fastest-growing cases of the virus at almost 80,000 per day. It also has the biggest fatality rate on a daily basis at over 1,000.
The virus is now making its way through rural areas that have very poor medical facilities. Hospitals with no proper funding from the government have faced shortages of sickbeds, and ambulances and other emergency response units take so long to reach the patients.
According to The Hindu, the country has registered more than 28 percent of the world's new coronavirus cases over the past five days. The apparent increase of cases could be the result of increased testing, the Indian Express disclosed. For instance, over 93,000 tests were made in Maharashtra on Friday, compared to just 50,000 a day a week earlier.
Maharashtra has been at the core of the pandemic in the country since a massive lockdown was ordered in March. The Indian state still accounts for almost 25 percent of the new fresh infections across the nation of 1.3 billion people.
On Twitter, Shamika Ravi, an economics professor and former government adviser, said the current pandemic cannot be totally contained in the country unless the surge of infections is contained in Maharashtra.
Meanwhile, Indian health officials gave the green light on Saturday to the country's first "on-demand" test to guarantee that higher levels of testing will be attained. A prescription was recently required to undergo a coronavirus test, although since July medical experts Mumbai have authorized private laboratories in the city to conduct tests without any prescription from physicians.
