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NEW DELHI: India overtook Brazil on Monday (September 7) to become the second worst affected country in terms of coronavirus cases behind the United States, according to an AFP tally.
The South Asian nation has recorded 4.2 million infections since the pandemic began, data from the Health Ministry showed, compared with 4.12 million in Brazil and 6.25 million in the United States.
India has also recorded 71,642 deaths, down from 126,203 in Brazil and 188,540 in the United States.
However, many experts claim that not enough people are being tested and many deaths are not being recorded correctly, which means that the true numbers may be much higher.
Since August, the country of 1.3 billion people, home to some of the most densely populated cities in the world, has been reporting the world’s largest single-day increases. On Monday it reported an increase of more than 90,000 cases.
Its case load surpassed 4 million on Saturday, just 13 days after hitting three million.
Virologist Shahid Jameel, who heads the Wellcome Trust / DBT India Alliance, said the key factor to consider is the growth rate of infections, which he called “quite alarming.”
“In the last two weeks, the … average has gone from about 65,000 cases per day to about 83,000 cases per day, that is, an increase of 27 percent in two weeks or about 2 percent per day,” he said. Jameel to AFP. .
India has been testing more than 10 million people a day on average, with plans to increase it even more.
The Indian Council of Medical Research, the scientific agency leading the government response, revised the testing criteria on Friday, allowing anyone to undergo a test without a letter from a doctor.
Jameel said the move was late.
“This will reveal more asymptomatic people, who are the true source of this expansion in India. There should also be more testing in rural districts and villages, as more than two-thirds of the cases come from there,” he said.
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Despite warnings that it could eventually overtake the US to become the world’s most infected country, India has steadily reopened its pandemic-hit economy.
Economic production contracted a historic 23.9 percent between April and June.
On Monday, subway trains in major cities, including the capital New Delhi, one of the worst-hit cities along with Mumbai financial center, reopened after a nearly six-month hiatus.
Early morning footage showed masked travelers sitting in nearly empty carriages and showing signs of victory to journalists.
Passengers can only sit in alternate seats and after undergoing a thermal check.
Delhi, a city teeming with 20 million people, recorded 3,256 new infections on Sunday, its highest single-day peak in 73 days. It was also the first time that cases crossed the 3,000 mark during this period.
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