India It has become the third country to register more than 1 million coronavirus infections, after the US and Brazil, as it reported 34,956 new cases in the last 24 hours, bringing the national total to 1,003,832.
Amid evidence that the disease was settling in the poorest rural areas and least served by public health care, the latest count raised new concerns about the country’s ability to cope with rising infections.
The figures have been released after a week when Indian authorities were forced to impose new blockades, including new restrictions on 128 million people in Bihar state, which took effect on Thursday.
Continuous and growing outbreaks, plus record cases in the US , Which approved 75,000 cases a day at the latest count, has lowered hopes that the pandemic is close to being controlled, even as researchers compete to find a viable vaccine.
Three states in India, Maharashtra, Delhi and Tamil Nadu, account for more than half of the total cases in the country so far. Ashish Jha, director of the Harvard Institute of Global Health, warned that the vast majority of cases in the country were still being lost.
The continued increase has forced authorities to re-establish blockades in some cities and states.
In Bangalore, the government ordered a one-week shutdown that started on Tuesday night after a rapid increase in cases.
In Uttar Pradesh, the most populous state in India with more than 200 million people, authorities have begun placing residents under strict weekend curfews, which will remain in effect until the end of the month.
Other local governments are increasingly focusing on smaller locks that protect the economy. Almost a dozen states have imposed restrictions on containment zones that can be as small as a few houses or a street.
Dr. Anant Bhan, a global health researcher, said India is likely to experience a series of spikes as the virus spreads in rural areas. He said the capital New Delhi and the financial capital Mumbai had already seen waves, while infections have now moved to smaller cities.
India’s response to the virus was initially slow, but then on March 24 Prime Minister Narendra Modi imposed a three-week national blockade on its population of 1.3 billion.
