People wearing protective face masks wait to receive a vaccine for the coronavirus at a vaccination centre in Mumbai. Reuters

Gulf Today Report

India reported on Thursday 67,208 new COVID-19 infections over the past 24 hours, data from the health ministry showed.

The South Asian country's total COVID-19 case load now stands at 29.70 million, while total fatalities are at 381,903, the data showed. India's coronavirus-related deaths rose by 2,330 overnight.

A health worker attends to a patient inside a vehicle at a dedicated COVID-19 government hospital in Ahmedabad. AP

India is slowly emerging from the darkest days of the pandemic. After declining last year, cases began surging in March, surpassing 400,000 new infections per day in May. The impact was immediate — hospitals were overwhelmed with patients struggling to breathe.

Demand for oxygen outran supply. Television news ran stories of patients dying on stretchers waiting outside hospital gates and dying at home before test results could even confirm they had caught the virus. The country’s health infrastructure collapsed.

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New cases are now declining, but the toll wrought by the pandemic on doctors, nurses and other front-line workers is still emerging.

More than 700 doctors lost their lives in the latest surge, the Indian Medical Association said last week.

Patients suffering from COVID-19 share a bed as they receive treatment in Lok Nayak Jai Prakash hospital. Reuters

With more than 29 million cases, India has the second-highest number after the United States. Deaths exceed 379,000. Experts believe both numbers are undercounts.

Cases are now falling in Mumbai, once one of the hardest-hit areas, spurring authorities to slowly reopen the city of over 20 million.