India faces grim COVID-19 situation on deadliest day to date
2021-05-03 08:55:52 source：CGTN
May 2, 2021
One day after India recorded the world's highest daily new coronavirus case count of over 400,000 since the start of pandemic, the country saw its deadliest day on Saturday with 3,689 deaths in 24 hours. The COVID-19 caseload surged to 19.5 million on Sunday morning with 392,000 new cases.
The rampaging infections have collapsed the country's health system in places including capital New Delhi, with shortages of medical oxygen and hospital beds. The city's Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal announced on Saturday evening an extension of the city's lockdown for another week. New Delhi entered the latest round of lockdown on April 19 and was set to lift it by Monday.
Scientists are studying what led to the current surge in cases in India and particularly whether a variant first detected in the country, called B.1.617, is to blame. The World Health Organization said on Tuesday that its early modelling, based on genome sequencing, suggested that B.1.617 had a higher growth rate than other variants circulating in India.
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