India's coronavirus death toll passes 300,000
A relative tries to wake up a girl who became unconscious in New Delhi.
India passed 300,000 confirmed coronavirus deaths on Monday, while a devastating surge of infections appeared to be easing in big cities but was swamping the poorer countryside.
It became the third country — after the United States and Brazil — to cross 300,000 deaths as fatalities remaining high despite the country flattening out the number of new cases in its devastating pandemic wave.
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Another 4,454 deaths in 24 hours — the second-highest daily figure so far — took India's toll to 303,720. It has added the last 50,000 deaths in under two weeks, according to government figures. Experts said the real numbers of deaths and infections, now 26.7 million, were probably much higher than the official figures.
"Deaths always will lag cases... People who have been diagnosed with infection now will go into hospital, and then a small number of them will die but that will be later," Ashoka University biology professor Gautam Menon told AFP Monday.
Covid-19 deaths in the South Asian nation rose to a new record.
A rapid rise in cases of mucormycosis, also known as black fungus, has added to the challenges faced by India's healthcare system as it deals with a massive second wave of COVID-19 infections.
The following lays out information about mucormycosis, opinions from health experts and the scientific evidence behind what could be driving the recent rise in cases.
For several weeks the country of 1.3 billion has been hitting record daily rises in infections and fatalities, that have overwhelmed its healthcare system.
While the crisis has eased in major cities such as New Delhi and Mumbai, the coronavirus is still spreading in rural areas and southern states.
The federal government fears another lockdown will have a devastating impact on the economy.
The milestone, as recorded by India's Health Ministry, comes as slowed vaccine deliveries have marred the country's fight against the pandemic, forcing many to miss their shots, and a rare but fatal fungal infection affecting COVID-19 patients has worried doctors.
India’s death toll is the third-highest reported in the world after the US and Brazil, accounting for 8.6% of the nearly 34.7 million coronavirus fatalities globally, though the true numbers are thought to be significantly greater.
From the remote Himalayan villages in the north, through the vast humid central plains and to the sandy beaches in the south, the pandemic has swamped India's underfunded health care system after spreading quickly across the country.
