India’s total COVID-19 caseload surged past 25 million on Tuesday as a powerful cyclone complicated the health crisis in the western states of Gujarat and Maharashtra, already reeling from the second wave of the pandemic.
CBC Canada is reporting that the country reported more than 260,000 new COVID-19 cases and a record 4,329 deaths in the last 24 hours. The numbers of new cases are continuing to trend downward after dipping below 300,000 per day two days ago.
With the death count continuing to rise, India has recorded nearly 280,000 virus deaths since the pandemic began. Both the number of deaths and total reported cases are still thought to be vastly undercounted.
On the western coast of India, coronavirus tests were administered to over 200,000 people before the cyclone struck on Monday, and efforts were being made to try to limit any spread of infections, according to Reuters.
“Masks have been arranged for people shifted to shelter homes,” said Sandip Sagale, a top official in Ahmedabad, the main city in Gujarat. “Efforts are also made to maintain social distancing.”
India went through a similar situation last year as the country faced cyclones in late May and early June, however, India’s cases were still relatively low, at fewer than 10,000 a day, and the country was emerging from a stringent lockdown, according to CNN News.
This time, things are different, with India now the global epicenter of the pandemic. Hospitals are swamped with patients and oxygen and medications are nearly nonexistent. Added to its woes, the government is facing criticism at home and abroad over its handling of the pandemic.
