India’s second wave of Wuhan pneumonia (novel coronavirus disease, COVID-19) epidemic fever, a single day of new cases and deaths in today (26) again both record-breaking, and for five consecutive days to set a new global record of all countries reported the highest single-day confirmed diagnosis.
The Ministry of Health of India reported on Monday that 352,991 new cases were confirmed, bringing the total number of infected cases to 17,310,3163; after India’s first single-day confirmation exceeded 300,000 on the 22nd, there have been five consecutive days of record-breaking confirmations since then. The number of deaths increased by 2,812, bringing the total number of deaths to 195,123.
But the actual number of deaths may be higher because local cemeteries and crematoriums are overwhelmed, and a large number of the dead have to be cremated in temporary facilities. Medics in Bihar had to drag the bodies on the ground to the cremation site because of a shortage of stretchers. Delhi even allows dead trees in parks and roads to be cut down for cremation of remains.
Hospital beds, medicines, respirators and oxygen are in short supply across India, and despite the government’s promise to increase production, Indian epidemiologist Lalit Kant believes the decision is too late and that the government should have prepared for a second wave of the epidemic.
Despite the severity of the epidemic, a rough estimate of 8.6 million voters went to the polls in India’s eastern state of West Bengal on Monday, the penultimate of eight phases of voting that will end this week. Uttar Pradesh, India’s most populous state, is also holding its third phase of voting today, where an average of 30,000 confirmed cases are increasing daily.
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