India Surpassed Russia To Become The Third Worst-Hit Country By COVID-19

India went past Russia to become the third worst-hit nation by the COVID-19 pandemic with the country’s tally of infections crossing 6.90 lakh. India’s total COVID-19 tally now stands at 697413, while Russia now at fourth place has 681,251. India is now preceded only by Brazil and then the US, which has over 15 lakh and 28 lakh cases right now.

India imposed lockdown from March 25 to control the spread of the virus, but in early June most businesses were allowed to re-open. Schools also were re-opened in many states. The easing of the lockdown led to a surge in new infections. The worst affected Maharashtra crossed the grim milestone of two lakh COVID-19 cases, Tamil Nadu’s tally reached 1.11 lakh and Delhi too was nearing the one lakh mark.

For India with a population of more than 1.3 billion, the count of infected patients per capita is still low, fewer than 400 per million people. The death rate is also low, officially 11 deaths per million people in the population. China, the place believed to be the origin of coronavirus reported three new cases of infections recently and including just one case of local transmission in the capital Beijing.

Authorities have made wearing masks mandatory in public places, while large gatherings are banned and shops and other public establishments are required to implement social distancing. Metro trains in cities, cinemas, gyms and swimming pools remain closed and international flights are still grounded. Meanwhile, the International Monetary Fund predicts India’s economy will contract by 4.5% this year.

The country is working to fast-track development of a vaccine amid the surge, though experts have advised caution against racing through the process. The nod to conduct human trials for Indian COVID-19 vaccine candidates COVAXIN and ZyCov-D mark the beginning of the end of the coronavirus pandemic, the government said on Sunday. Meanwhile, the Health Ministry revised the dosage of anti-viral drug remdesivir to be administered to COVID-19 patients in the moderate stage of illness from the earlier six days to five days. Speaking of the testing rate in the country, the government says that the testing lab network in the country continues to expand. There are as many as 1100 labs in the country.

India is now racing only with the U.S. and Brazil and is on the path to surpass the 800,000 cases predicted for this month by a team of data scientists at the University of Michigan.