India has reported 357,229 new coronavirus cases over the last 24 hours – the 13th straight day of more than 300,000 infections – taking its overall tally to more than 20 million. Deaths rose 3,449 for a toll of 222,408, health ministry data showed on Tuesday.
However, medical experts say the real numbers across the country of 1.35 billion may be five to 10 times higher than the official tally.
The steep climb in infections in the first week of April, when for the first time India surged past 100,000 cases, was indicative of an impending disaster.
In a matter of weeks, India descended into a COVID-19 hell as visuals of dead bodies lined up outside crematoriums, unending funeral pyres and burials emerged from its major cities and towns.
Danish Siddiqui / Reuters
The day India declared the pandemic defeated was a Monday in early February. But in Cyrus Dubah s Mumbai apartment, the second wave had just begun. «The credit to win this war goes to the people of India, not an individual or any government. But the credit does go to India,» Prime Minister Narendra Modi told parliament. In Dubah s home, meanwhile, his mother was sick with COVID-19. So was his father, and his brother. The pandemic that for a year seemed so far away had arrived at Dubah s apartment in Mumbai s best neighborhood – India s richest man lives just 300 meters away.
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