India's coronavirus cases pass 10 million
19 December, 2020
India surged past 10 million coronavirus cases on Saturday (Dec 19), official data showed, the next highest on the globe although new infection rates appear to have fallen sharply in recent weeks.
Total cases were 10 million, up just over 25,000 in a day, with 9.6 million recoveries and 145,136 deaths, based on the health ministry.
In September, the vast nation of 1 1.3 billion persons have been recording daily new cases of almost 100,000 and looked on the right track to surpass the United States as the worst-hit country.
But the pandemic has accelerated in the US and seems to have lost momentum in India, regardless of the country being home to some of the most crowded cities on the planet.
AMERICA, with a population a quarter how big is India's, has been reporting up to 200,000 new cases in recent weeks, 10 times as much as India.
India's fatality rate can be considerably lower -- less than half that of the US. Brazil has also reported more deaths at 185,000.
Residents in the administrative centre New Delhi told AFP these were still worried but were convenient than before about leaving their homes.
"Obviously the fear levels attended down as time passes. Initially, it had been more scary. Now we don't worry that much," housewife Huma Zaidi said.
"But we are still taking precautions like wearing masks when venturing out and avoiding social gatherings."
India has lifted restrictions of all activities to improve the struggling economy, even though some states and territories have reimposed curbs to stem the spread of the virus.
COLD CHAIN CONCERNS
The 10-million mark came as the world's second-most populous nation gears up for the vast and challenging task of needs to vaccinate the population next year.
The government aims to inoculate 300 million persons initially, with health personnel and other frontline staff likely to be the first ever to receive the jabs.
India has yet to approve any vaccines but several drugmakers have requested authorisation, including AstraZeneca, which includes partnered with India's Serum Institute, the world's greatest vaccine maker.
Health ministry officials were likely to meet staff from the Election Commission -- which carries out vast state and national polls -- within the next few days as they map out how exactly to distribute the shots, the Press Trust of India reported Thursday.
Experts have cautioned that the country could struggle because of its weak cold-chain infrastructure -- needed for keeping vaccines refrigerated -- particularly in poor and densely populated urban areas and remote rural regions.
"All of the experience that India has in vaccinating is on the much smaller game of total annual vaccinations of children," Satyajit Rath, an immunologist at the National Institute of Immunology, told AFP.
"I'm uncertain that India's public healthcare systems are sufficiently developed ... Even mildly below-freezing requirements (for vaccine transportation and storage) will probably prove extremely challenging in the rural hinterland's healthcare system services."
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