Topline India reported more than 400,000 new coronavirus cases Saturday, shattering the worldwide single-day record, as a devastating second wave of the pandemic continues to ravage the country, crippling an already weakened healthcare system. A Covid-19 patient waits to be admitted to LNJP Hospital in New Delhi, India. (Photo by Amal … [+] KS/Hindustan Times via Getty Images) Hindustan Times via Getty Images Key Facts After 10 consecutive days of more than 300,000 new, confirmed cases, India’s Health Ministry said Saturday that number had climbed to 401,993. Covid-related deaths also spiked, with 3,523 fatalities reported in the previous 24 hours. Eighteen of those deaths were attributable to a fire in a Covid-19 ward on the ground floor of a hospital in western India that also injured 31 other patients. Despite the alarming numbers, experts say those figures represent only a fraction of total fatalities and infections. Bhramar Mukherjee, a biostatistician at the University of Michigan, said daily cases could climb past 500,000 by mid-May. Dr. Anthony Fauci, in an interview with the Indian Express newspaper, advised India to implement a temporary nationwide shutdown, which the U.S. infectious disease expert argued “could have a significant impact on the dynamics of the outbreak.” Key Background: The executive director of Batra Hospital hospital in New Delhi took to Twitter Saturday morning to issue an SOS, warning that he and his colleagues were in “crisis mode” due to a lac… Click below to read the full story from Forbes
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India’s Daily Covid Cases Soar Past 400,000 As Crisis Deepens
