By Vincent Odhiambo | India has registered the highest daily COVID-19 fatalities with 3,780 people succumbing to the virus in the last 24 hours. The new deaths have now pushed the total fatalities to 226,188 as the number of new cases also rose by 382,315.
The country, whose healthcare system continues to be stretched, hit a grim milestone on Tuesday after its caseload crossed the 20 million mark, a figure that is second only to the US. Currently, the country has registered 20,665,148 coronavirus infections with 16, 951,731 total recoveries.
Though the actual statistics on cases and fatalities in India is believed to be more than the official figures by the government, the country is battling a near-collapsed healthcare system with hospitals and clinics running out of oxygen and hospital beds. Locals have also been forced to make makeshift crematoriums as the number of deaths keeps rising.
The Delhi High Court has given the Centre and Delhi State Governments three days to set up stocks of 100 metric tonnes of liquid oxygen in the national capital to ensure supply to hospitals in case of any emergency.
With the surging cases, the Government of Uttar Pradesh has extended the duration of the weekend lockdown. The State Government imposed the curfew from Friday at 8pm to Tuesday, 7am. The movement restrictions have also been extended to next Monday. So far, at least 160,494,188 people have been vaccinated in India.
