India inched closer to 1 million coronavirus cases on Friday. The country now stands third only to the United States and Brazil, giving rise to concerns about its readiness to confront an inevitable surge that could overwhelm hospitals and test the country’s ailing health care system.
The Health Ministry has reported nearly 25,000 deaths and 6,12,814 recoveries so far, as per reports.
The grim milestone comes at a time when several Indian states are imposing focused lockdowns to stem the outbreak amid frantic efforts by local governments to protect the economy.
So far, three states – Maharashtra, Delhi, and Tamil Nadu – have accounted for more than half of total cases. But in India’s vast countryside, which is much less prepared and with weaker health care, the pandemic is clearly growing.
The continuing surge has forced authorities to reinstate lockdowns in some cities and states.
India’s response to the virus was initially sluggish and then it bought time by locking down its entire population of 1.4 billion people when Prime Minister Narendra Modi imposed a nationwide lockdown for three weeks on March 24.
The nationwide lockdown, then extended for five more weeks, came at an enormous economic cost amid an unprecedented humanitarian crisis.
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