May 19, 2021 – India reported the highest daily death toll from the coronavirus pandemic on Wednesday – 4,529 as the virus raged across rural areas of the country.
The deadliest day to date for a single country in the United States was recorded in January when 4,468 people died. Many experts believe the real death toll in India is even higher as evidence has surfaced across the country of large numbers of people dying from COVID-19 that have not been officially counted, the New York Times reported.
The number of new cases was also dire: India reported 267,000 new cases on Tuesday, pushing the official case number to over 25 million, according to the Times.
Meanwhile, British scientists have sounded the alarm about the coronavirus variant, which was first found in India, the Washington Post reported. They told the government of that country in technical files that it could be up to 50 percent more contagious than the already more contagious British variant that dominated many countries this spring.
Much unknown is known about the new Indian variant – known as B.1.617.2 – partly because Indian health authorities have done so little genetic sequencing and cannot say how much it is responsible for the devastating outbreak there, the Post reported.
But the UK runs a consortium of genetic sequencing laboratories constantly on the lookout for new “worrying variants,” and the arrival of the Indian variant has deeply worried scientists and government officials in that country, the Post said.
While infections seem to be slowing slightly in Indian cities like New Delhi and Mumbai, the virus is now spreading like wildfire across the country, according to the Times. Tests there are limited and the medical infrastructure is overwhelmed, the newspaper said.
Hospitals in India remain inadequate and the country’s vaccination campaign has been slow. The death toll has been over 4,000 for several days, suggesting that those infected when the outbreak began are now dying, even as new infections decrease in urban centers.
The virus has not spared India’s doctors and medics either.
More than 1,000 doctors have died of COVID-19 since the pandemic started last year. The death rate has been much higher and the ages of victims are often much younger since the second wave of infections began this spring, the Times reported. More than 260 doctors have died since April, according to the Indian Medical Association.
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