New Delhi | The number of coronavirus cases has passed the nine million mark in India, the second most affected country in the world after the United States, Indian health authorities announced on Friday.
The coronavirus has infected more than 9,004,000 people in India and killed 132,162, according to official Indian figures. Many experts believe, however, that the actual numbers are much higher, due to underreporting and a relatively low number of tests.
The country officially the most affected by the pandemic remains the United States, which has 11.6 million cases and more than 250,000 deaths.
The second most populous country in the world with 1.3 billion inhabitants, India has seen its number of new infections drop in recent weeks, but it still records 45,000 new cases per day on average.
New Delhi, which is also currently facing the suffocating winter air pollution, has more than half a million cases and the progression of the disease is accelerating in this megalopolis of more than 20 million people. ‘inhabitants.
On Thursday, local authorities in the capital decided to quadruple the fine imposed on those who do not wear the mask.
India imposed very strict containment in March. But the restrictions have been gradually lifted by a government keen to revive the economic machine, as millions of jobs have been cut since the start of the crisis.
Experts explain that this has helped promote the progression of the epidemic, such as reluctance to wear the mask and failure to comply with social distancing rules.
However, restrictions are starting to be reintroduced in places.
Curfew in Ahmedabad
The authorities of Ahmedabad (West), the main city of the state of Gujarat with more than 5.5 million inhabitants, decided Thursday evening to impose from Friday a night curfew for an indefinite period, doubled this weekend of total containment, except for food stores and pharmacies, from Friday evening to Monday morning.
“During this period, only stores selling milk and medicines will be allowed to remain open,” said local official Rajiv Kumar Gupta.
For Anand Krishnan, specialist professor of public health at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) in Delhi, “the rise in the number of cases is cause for concern, primarily because it is caused by people who do not. not follow the basic protocols for the attitude to adopt towards the coronavirus ”.
Hemant Shewade, a public health expert in Bangalore, thinks it likely that the official figures do not take into account cases of coronavirus outside major cities. “In my opinion, it is spreading slowly and silently in the rural areas,” he told AFP.
In New Delhi, concern is growing as more than 90% of intensive care beds equipped with ventilators were occupied on Thursday, according to a government mobile app.
Families in distress were making appeals on social media, calling on Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal to find beds.
Under pressure, Mr. Kejriwal announced Thursday 1,400 additional beds in intensive care.
The capital pays the price for crowds during the festive season, especially in the markets before the big Hindu festival of Diwali last Saturday, observes Jeevendra Srivastava, a 47-year-old advertiser.
“It’s shocking to see people continue not to take this deadly virus seriously,” he said. “People continue to go without masks in crowded places. It is because of this irresponsible attitude that now one in two households has a case of the virus. “