By AsiaNews / Agencies
July 18 2020
Only the United States and Brazil have a higher number of cases. More than 25 thousand dead in the country. Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu the most affected states. Lockdown restored in several areas. Red Cross: The Indian subcontinent is the new epicenter of the pandemic. Economist mitigates the alarm: Per capita, the country has one of the lowest mortality rates in the world.
NEW DELHI – As of today, India has exceeded one million Covid-19 infections according to the Ministry of Health. Only the United States and Brazil have a higher number of cases. The worst hit Indian states are Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu, with 284,281 and 156,369 infected respectively. The number of deaths in the country now stand at 25,602, and over 635 thousand hospitalized.
With over 600 cases of contagion per day, the lockdown has been restored in several areas. Authorities in Bihar, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Assam and Goa have adopted the most restrictive measures.
In the past month, Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government had eased the restrictions on circulation and economic activities imposed on March 24 to curb the spread of the disease.
Initially, the main outbreaks of infection were concentrated in large megacities such as the capital and Mumbai. Now Covid-19 is spreading rapidly in the countryside, where 70% of the population lives.
Analysts believe the coronavirus emergency in India has far higher numbers and that the figure is underestimated because local health authorities are not carrying out enough diagnostic tests. The International Federation of the Red Cross said yesterday that India, Pakistan and Bangladesh are becoming the new epicenter of the pandemic.
Economist Prof. Shamika Ravi maintains the epidemiological models used so far are not appropriate for India. In an interview with AsiaNews on July 10, she points out that in absolute terms India is among the top countries in terms of deaths from Covid-19, but compared to the population (1.3 billion) it has one of the lowest rates : 15 victims per million inhabitants. – Asia News
