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India's Covid death toll surges past 250,000

AFP
12 May 2021 10:09:45 | Update: 12 May 2021 10:48:29

Health workers wearing personal protective equipment (PPE kit) attends to Covid-19 coronavirus positive patients inside a banquet hall temporarily converted into a Covid care centre in New Delhi on April 28, 2021. - AFP photo.

India's coronavirus death toll surged past 250,000 on Wednesday, official data showed as the pandemic raged across the vast country of 130 crore people.

According to the country's health ministry, a new daily record of 4,205 people died in the past 24 hours, taking total fatalities to 254,197.

Meanwhile, 3,48,421 fresh cases were reported on Wednesday amid the battle against the second wave, which has raised global concern.

The number of cases rose almost 350,000 to 23.3 million, the second-highest after the United States.

However, many experts suspect the real numbers are much higher.

While the pandemic is easing in major cities, the virus appears to be running unchecked in India’s vast rural hinterland where two-thirds of its people live.

Many experts believe the official numbers of people dying in India, which has one of the world’s poorest-funded health care systems, are an underestimate.

A variant of Covid-19 - B.1.617 - that has been linked to the explosion in cases in India has been found in 44 countries. The variant was first found in India in October.

The World Health Organization has labeled it as "a variant of concern".