India's Covid-19 death-toll passed 400,000 on Friday, making it the third country after the United States and Brazil to pass the grim milestone. Half of the fatalities have been reported during a virulent second wave that peaked in April-May and overwhelmed its healthcare systems and crematoria.
In the last 24 hours, the Health Ministry recorded 853 deaths related to coronavirus, bringing the total tally to 400,312. Over 46,600 new infections were reported during the same time, taking the 1.3-billion-plus country's caseload to 30.4 million, it said. The last 100,000 deaths have been reported in just 39 days, since 24May, the figures showed.
India's toll is third behind US' and Brazil's - 605,013 and 520,095respectively - while it ranks second in terms of cases behind the US's 33.7 million infections. Among 10 countries worst-hit by the pandemic, India's deaths per million population is by far the lowest at 287 - compared to between1,000 and 2,000 for France, Mexico, the US and Britain, the Times of India daily reported.
Experts however say both coronavirus infections and related deaths in India are likely much higher due to under counting by government agencies. India's Covid-19 chart has shown improvement over the past weeks with the waning of the second wave that at its peak registered over 4,000deaths and 400,000 cases every day. India's main challenge remains vaccinating its huge population amid the threat of a third wave. So far, only 4.5 per cent of India's population has been fully vaccinated against Covid-19.
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