India Sets New Records Of COVID-19 Infections And Deaths, Expert Warns For Phase 3

Ilustrasi COVID-19. (Wikimedia Commons / Mstyslav Chernov)

JAKARTA - India is again setting a dark record when the number of infections and daily deaths due to COVID-19 in the country continues to increase significantly.

Data from the Ministry of Health shows that India reported a record 412.262 new cases of infection, bringing the total COVID-19 cases in India to 21 million cases.

Meanwhile, the reported daily death toll also set a new record, namely 3.980 deaths. Bringing the death record due to COVID-19 in India to 230.168 deaths.

With hospitals struggling to find beds and oxygen in response to a surge in infections, the World Health Organization (WHO) said in its weekly report that India accounted for nearly half of coronavirus cases reported worldwide last week and a quarter of deaths.

New Delhi is the city with the most severe cases of COVID-19 in India. However, rural areas in India have become a challenge in dealing with COVID-19, where 70 percent of India's 1.3 billion people are in rural areas.

"The situation is becoming dangerous in the villages", said Suresh Kumar, Manav Sansadhan field coordinator Evam Mahila Vikas Sansthan, a human rights charity, told Reuters on Thursday, May 6.

"There are deaths in almost every second home. People are frightened and huddled in their homes with fever and coughs. The symptoms are all COVID-19, but without available information, many think it is seasonal flu", he continued.

Meanwhile, India's leading scientific adviser K. Vijay Raghavan has warned of a possible third wave of COVID-19 infections.

"Phase 3 is inevitable, given the high levels of the virus in circulation. But it is not clear on what time scale this Phase 3 will occur. We must prepare for a new wave", said K. Vijay Raghavan.