India’s 2019 coronavirus disease (COVID-19) epidemic is severe, with the cumulative number of confirmed cases reaching 20 million.
In Europe and the United States, many city closures have been lifted through mass vaccination, while the epidemic in India, located in South Asia, presents a clear contrast.
India reported today that 357,229 new cases were confirmed, down from last week’s peak of 402,000, providing some optimistic signs that the worst may be over, with a cumulative total of 20,282,833 confirmed cases. In addition, 3,449 new people died of the disease, with a cumulative total of 222,408 deaths.
Lav Agarwal, undersecretary of the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, said, “If we analyze the new confirmed cases and deaths on a daily basis, there are very preliminary signs of a positive trend, but these are very early signs and further confirmation is needed.”
Nonetheless, the epidemic remains serious in India, with Bihar, a province with a population of about 120 million, becoming the latest province to impose a city closure today.
Rahul Gandhi, a key leader of India’s opposition Congress party, said that the city of Bihar is the latest province to be closed today. Rahul Gandhi, a key leader of India’s opposition Congress party, tweeted a call for the government to impose a nationwide city closure. He said, “The only way to stop the spread of the epidemic now is to seal off all cities…Government inaction has cost many innocent lives.”
The rise in the epidemic coincides with a sharp drop in vaccination in India due to problems with the supply and distribution of vaccines, with at least three provinces, including Maharashtra, home to Mumbai, the richest commercial city, continuing to report shortages and forcing the closure of several vaccination centers in the country.
Only 79,491 doses of vaccine were administered in Maharashtra yesterday, compared with 534,372 doses a week ago.
Although the number of people eligible for vaccination in India is estimated to have doubled to 800 million since May 1, the two vaccine manufacturers currently estimate that the total production of 70-80 million doses per month will only increase in two months or more, and only 9.5% of the total population of 1.35 billion people are currently receiving at least one dose of vaccine.
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