- India recorded tens of thousands of new cases of COVID-19 over the weekend, raising the country’s total number beyond Russia as the third largest in the world.
- The country has registered almost 700,000 cases despite strict blockades imposed from March to May.
- Lack of evidence and external factors that impede social distancing among the 1.3 billion population are believed to be to blame, as some cities are preparing to impose blockades again.
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India recorded just 24,000 new cases of COVID-19 on Sunday, bringing its total to 697,836, according to Worldometer data.
A similar increase was reported a day earlier as 24,015 new cases were reported Saturday, according to Worldometer data. The new data brought the country’s total case count ahead of Russia’s 681,251 and ranked it third in the world behind the US and Brazil for total confirmed cases.
New Delhi, the capital of India, leads the country in new cases of COVID-19, according to the BBC. Last week, the outlet reported that the capital city was the largest hot spot in the country, with nearly 80,000 cases.
Why has India been unable to control the coronavirus?
The increasing case count in India is not due to a lack of trying to contain the spread, according to The Guardian, as Prime Minister Narendra Modi instituted strict closure measures and has voiced consistent messages of social distancing since the blockades began in March. . However, the country emerged from a two-month blockade in late May to discover that it failed to crush any curves, The Washington Post reported.
Modi has already declared his opposition to another national blockade, according to NPR, but some cities are preparing to re-enter the blockade in 10-day increments. India Today reports that the cities surrounding Mumbai will once again be forced to close their doors with exemptions only for workers deemed essential.
India is the most populous country in the world, with more than 1.3 billion people, more than three times the population of the United States. As The Guardian reports, testing facilities were unable to meet demand, with a single testing lab in an area intended to serve 30 million people.
In trying to fight the coronavirus, India has also suffered a heat wave that has worsened the crisis as residents struggle to stay home, according to the Associated Press. Temperatures rose to nearly 120 degrees Fahrenheit in New Delhi in late May, making wearing the mask unbearable for some and making social distancing more difficult to maintain.
