Having effortlessly transitioned into acting, Fouzia's debut film swiftly captured global acclaim, earning accolades at the prestigious Cannes Film Festival
Nearly two-thirds of people tested in India have shown exposure to the coronavirus, a chain of private laboratories said on Wednesday, indicating a runaway spread of the virus as the daily death toll rose to a record 4,529.
India reported 267,334 new daily infections yesterday, taking its tally to 25.5 million, with a death toll of 283,248, health ministry data showed.
For months, nowhere in the world has been hit harder than India by the pandemic, as a new variant discovered there fuelled a surge of up to more than 400,000 new infections a day.
Only the United States has had more cases, or a worse single day death toll, when 5,444 people died on February 12.
But even with a downturn in the number of new cases in India over the past few days, if not in deaths, experts said there was no certainty that infections had peaked.
It is widely accepted that the official figures grossly underestimate the real impact, with some experts saying infections and deaths could be five to 10 times higher.
There are fears the new, highly infectious variant is out of control and many cases are going unreported because of lack of testing, particularly in the vast countryside.
Data from Thyrocare, a chain of private laboratories, appeared to back up those fears, showing that 63.5 percent of people tested positive for COVID-19 antibodies on average over the past seven days, up from 45 percent a month ago.
The data from 25 states included individuals who were infected in the past, vaccinated, uninfected and those who had not been vaccinated, the company’s Chief Executive Arokiaswamy Velumani said on Twitter.
Daily testing hit a record 2 million on Tuesday, figures from the state-run Indian Council of Medical Research showed.
But that still falls short of India’s claimed daily testing capacity of 3.3 million, said Rijo M. John, a professor at the Rajagiri College of Social Sciences in the southern city of Kochi.
India performed 224 tests for every 1,000 of its population in a single day this month, according to estimates by research firm GlobalData compared with 1,307 tests per 1,000 of population in the US on the same day.
“Many of these tests are being deployed in urban centers, where cases may have peaked and so it doesn’t serve much purpose,” added John.
“It’s time they were diverted to more rural areas, but I doubt that is being done.”.
India is the world’s largest vaccine maker. But criticism has also mounted over a slow vaccination campaign, plagued by a lack of supplies.
Having effortlessly transitioned into acting, Fouzia's debut film swiftly captured global acclaim, earning accolades at the prestigious Cannes Film Festival
Parag, who reached his 50 off 34 balls, cracked 25 runs with three fours and two sixes off the final over bowled by star South Africa paceman Anrich Nortje
Fans were left scratching their heads when Mumbai opted to take Bumrah out of the attack after he bowled the fourth over
With the help of modern equipment, manicured golf courses and elite athletes the scores are getting lower and the game becoming even more captivating
With 10 matches remaining Arsenal lead a three-way title race having won eight successive games
Three separate Israeli strikes on Wednesday, including on a health centre in the border village of Habariyeh, killed 11 civilians
Netanyahu tries to soothe a rift with Biden as he plans to send a government delegation to Washington after earlier cancelling the trip
Among the 24 horses Japan has sent to Dubai is impressive Riyadh Dirt Sprint winner Remake who eyes a Middle East double