India's Covid deaths cross quarter million mark, no sign of peak
Skip to main content
  • Home
  • Economy
  • Stocks
  • Analysis
  • World+Biz
  • Sports
  • Splash
  • Features
  • Videos
  • Long Read
  • Games
  • Epaper
  • More
    • COVID-19
    • Bangladesh
    • Infograph
    • Interviews
    • Offbeat
    • Thoughts
    • Podcast
    • Quiz
    • Tech
    • Subscribe
    • Archive
    • Trial By Trivia
    • Magazine
    • Supplement
  • বাংলা
The Business Standard
MONDAY, MAY 23, 2022
MONDAY, MAY 23, 2022
  • Home
  • Economy
  • Stocks
  • Analysis
  • World+Biz
  • Sports
  • Splash
  • Features
  • Videos
  • Long Read
  • Games
  • Epaper
  • More
    • COVID-19
    • Bangladesh
    • Infograph
    • Interviews
    • Offbeat
    • Thoughts
    • Podcast
    • Quiz
    • Tech
    • Subscribe
    • Archive
    • Trial By Trivia
    • Magazine
    • Supplement
  • বাংলা
India's Covid deaths cross quarter million mark, no sign of peak

Coronavirus chronicle

Reuters
12 May, 2021, 11:35 am
Last modified: 12 May, 2021, 11:45 am

Related News

  • Investcorp targets $400 million at Indian school infrastructure, warehousing
  • US considering $4B additional support for India
  • Oil prices at $110/barrel pose 'bigger threats' than inflation, says India's oil minister
  • Saudi Arabia bans travel to India, 15 other countries over Covid outbreaks
  • Millions at risk as India's severe heatwave exposes cooling gaps

India's Covid deaths cross quarter million mark, no sign of peak

India's Covid-19 infection curve may be showing early signs of flattening, but the decline in the number of new infections is likely to be slow, said Shahid Jameel, a top Indian virologist

Reuters
12 May, 2021, 11:35 am
Last modified: 12 May, 2021, 11:45 am
Health workers and a relative carry the body of a man, who died due to COVID-19, from an ambulance to a crematorium in New Delhi, India, November 13, 2020. REUTERS/Danish Siddiqui
Health workers and a relative carry the body of a man, who died due to COVID-19, from an ambulance to a crematorium in New Delhi, India, November 13, 2020. REUTERS/Danish Siddiqui

India said on Wednesday a record number of people were killed by the coronavirus in the past 24 hours, pushing its overall death toll over a quarter million, while a leading virologist said it was too early to say if infections had reached a peak.

Deaths from Covid-19 swelled by 4,205, while daily coronavirus cases rose by 348,421, with India's overall number of cases surging past 23 million, according to health ministry data. Even then, experts believe the official numbers grossly underestimate the real scale of the epidemic's impact, and actual deaths and infections could be five to ten times higher.

India's Covid-19 infection curve may be showing early signs of flattening, but the decline in the number of new infections is likely to be slow, said Shahid Jameel, a top Indian virologist.

"It is still too early to say whether we have reached the peak," he was quoted as saying by the Indian Express newspaper. "There is some indication of the cases plateauing. But we must not forget that this is a very high plateau. We seem to be plateauing around 400,000 cases a day."

India, with a population of 1.4 billion people, currently accounts for one in three of the reported deaths from coronavirus around the world, according to a Reuters tally, overwhelming hospital and medical staff, as well as mortuaries and crematoriums. Drugs and medical oxygen are in short supply.

The brutal second wave of Covid-19 infections has spread from the cities to small towns and the countryside, ripping through a fragile health system ill-equipped for a crisis of this scale.

Rural parts of India are also running short of wood for traditional Hindu cremations and scores of bodies are washing up on the banks of the Ganges river which flows through the most populous areas of the northern plains.

Akhand Pratap, a resident of Ghazipur district in sprawling Uttar Pradesh state, said that "people are immersing bodies in the holy Ganges river instead of cremation because of shortage of cremation wood".

Even in the capital, New Delhi, many Covid victims are abandoned by their relatives after cremation, leaving volunteers to wash the ashes, pray over them, and then take them to scatter into the river, rituals usually conducted by the family.

In a report published Wednesday, the World Health Organization said the B.1.617 variant first identified in India had been detected in at least 44 countries so far. The global health body has classified it as a "variant of concern" that requires heightened tracking and analysis.

Vaccines are also running short, especially in Maharashtra state around the financial centre of Mumbai, and in the capital, Delhi, two of India's hardest-hit regions.

India's second wave of the pandemic has increased calls for a nationwide lockdown and prompted more and more states to impose tougher restrictions that have hurt businesses and the wider economy.

World+Biz

India / COVID deaths / Coronavirus in India

Comments

While most comments will be posted if they are on-topic and not abusive, moderation decisions are subjective. Published comments are readers’ own views and The Business Standard does not endorse any of the readers’ comments.

Top Stories

  • Why we must resist geoeconomic fragmentation—and how
    Why we must resist geoeconomic fragmentation—and how
  • Trucks with palm oil fresh fruit bunches are parked in a queue at a palm oil factory in Siak regency, Riau province, Indonesia, April 26, 2022. Picture taken with a drone April 26, 2022. REUTERS/Willy Kurniawan
    Indonesia policy uncertainty hampers resumption of palm oil exports
  • HC orders to identify perpetrators behind e-commerce scams
    HC orders to identify perpetrators behind e-commerce scams

MOST VIEWED

  • A medical worker takes a swab sample from a person for a nucleic acid test at a makeshift testing site, amid the coronavirus disease (Covid-19) outbreak, in Beijing, China May 23, 2022. REUTERS/Tingshu Wang
    Beijing urges millions to keep working from home amid Covid outbreak menace
  • Picture: PTI
    Saudi Arabia bans travel to India, 15 other countries over Covid outbreaks
  • A person in personal protective equipment (PPE) walks a dog at a resident community, as the second stage of a two-stage lockdown has been launched to curb the spread of the coronavirus disease (Covid-19) in Shanghai, China April 3, 2022. REUTERS/Aly Song
    Shanghai reopens some public transport, still on high Covid alert
  • Workers in protective suit spray disinfectant at a community, during the lockdown to curb the spread of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in Shanghai, China, April 5, 2022. REUTERS/Aly Song
    Dynamic zero-Covid approach: China's choice to safeguard lives, underpin growth
  • People wearing protective face masks walk on a street, following new cases of the coronavirus disease (Covid-19), in Shanghai, China August 25, 2021. REUTERS/Aly Song
    Shanghai district to require all shops to shut, residents to stay home
  • Photo: Courtesy
    Covax calls for urgent action to close vaccine equity gap

Related News

  • Investcorp targets $400 million at Indian school infrastructure, warehousing
  • US considering $4B additional support for India
  • Oil prices at $110/barrel pose 'bigger threats' than inflation, says India's oil minister
  • Saudi Arabia bans travel to India, 15 other countries over Covid outbreaks
  • Millions at risk as India's severe heatwave exposes cooling gaps

Features

Musk is denying the sexual harassment allegation that surfaced this week. Photo: Bloomberg

Elon Musk’s crazily banal week 

6h | Panorama
Asus Zenbook 14 Flip OLED: A touch of brilliance to your life

Asus Zenbook 14 Flip OLED: A touch of brilliance to your life

9h | Brands
Keep your phone by your side with this armband

Keep your phone by your side with this armband

7h | Brands
Are Focallure gel masks worth the hype?

Are Focallure gel masks worth the hype?

8h | Brands

More Videos from TBS

Why are Duranta TV shows popular?

Why are Duranta TV shows popular?

1h | Videos
Donbas is hell, says Zelenskiy

Donbas is hell, says Zelenskiy

2h | Videos
Threat of Monkeypox on the horizon

Threat of Monkeypox on the horizon

3h | Videos
Mosque of Mughal period in Gazipur

Mosque of Mughal period in Gazipur

3h | Videos

Most Read

1
Tk100 for bike, Tk2,400 for bus to cross Padma Bridge
Bangladesh

Tk100 for bike, Tk2,400 for bus to cross Padma Bridge

2
A packet of US five-dollar bills is inspected at the Bureau of Engraving and Printing in Washington March 26, 2015. REUTERS/Gary Cameron
Banking

Dollar hits Tk100 mark in open market

3
PK Halder: How a scamster rose from humble beginnings to a Tk11,000cr empire
Crime

PK Halder: How a scamster rose from humble beginnings to a Tk11,000cr empire

4
Bangladesh at risk of losing ownership of Banglar Samriddhi
Bangladesh

Bangladesh at risk of losing ownership of Banglar Samriddhi

5
BSEC launches probe against Abul Khayer Hero and allies
Stocks

BSEC launches probe against Abul Khayer Hero and allies

6
The story of Bangladesh becoming a major bicycle exporter
Industry

The story of Bangladesh becoming a major bicycle exporter

The Business Standard
Top
  • Home
  • Entertainment
  • Sports
  • About Us
  • Bangladesh
  • International
  • Privacy Policy
  • Comment Policy
  • Contact Us
  • Economy
  • Sitemap
  • RSS

Contact Us

The Business Standard

Main Office -4/A, Eskaton Garden, Dhaka- 1000

Phone: +8801847 416158 - 59

Send Opinion articles to - oped.tbs@gmail.com

For advertisement- sales@tbsnews.net

Copyright © 2022 THE BUSINESS STANDARD All rights reserved. Technical Partner: RSI Lab