New Delhi
India on Friday closed in on Brazil as the world’s second most affected nation from the virus after the country reported a daily jump of 83,341 coronavirus infections, lifting its tally to 3.94 million.
According to health ministry data, around 1,096 people have succumbed to COVID-19, taking the toll to 68,472 so far. With coronavirus cases rampantly climbing in India, doctors say that everyone in the country could be a potential carrier for the virus.
Infections in India now total over 3.5 million, rising from two million in just over three weeks — the third-highest number of coronavirus infections in the world.
The disease is rampant in rural India, where people often have to rely on the most basic health facilities.
“Every person you meet is a potential carrier of the disease,” a doctor said to me when I visited the town of Bhagalpur and its nearby villages to cover the raging coronavirus pandemic in India’s countryside.
Dr Kumar Gaurav, a psychiatrist who conveyed that warning, was put in charge of the main hospital in Bhagalpur after the epidemic struck down some of his colleagues and others refused the job.
We wanted to show the human toll of the disease in the countryside, home to two-thirds of India’s 1.3 billion people. So, I headed out to one of the country’s most poverty-stricken regions — Bihar state in eastern India.
India’s economy shrank by nearly a quarter in April-June, data showed on Monday, much more than forecast and placing increasing pressure on policymakers to kick-start growth, despite the high number of new cases.
The chief minister of Goa, a popular tourist destination that has recently relaxed quarantine rules to attract visitors, said on Wednesday he had tested positive for the virus.—Reuters
