Sad News, India Sets A Record Of 1.5 Million Cases Of COVID-19 Infection

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

JAKARTA - The sad news came back from India. India's Ministry of Health reported a new record of daily COVID-19 infections, which reached 414.188 cases Friday. Meanwhile, the number of deaths increased by 3.915 people.

The total number of COVID-19 infections in India has reached 21.49 million, while the total number of deaths has reached 234.083. This set another bad record, with India recording 1.57 million cases and more than 15.100 deaths this week.

Medical experts say India's actual record of COVID-19 infections and deaths is five to 10 times the official tally.

Meanwhile, the pressure on Prime Minister Narendra Modi is getting tighter, for not acting quickly to anticipate and deal with the second wave of COVID-19.

This refers to religious festivals on the Ganges River and political demonstrations that draw huge crowds, becoming the super-spread of COVID-19.

India's government has also been criticized for the delay in the country's vaccination program, which medical experts say is India's only hope of controlling the second wave of COVID-19.

With the status of the largest COVID-19 vaccine maker in the world, India is struggling to meet the need for vaccine doses for its population to stem the wave of COVID-19.

Despite giving at least 157 million doses of the COVID-19 vaccine, India's inoculation rate has dropped dramatically in recent days.

"After reaching a level of about 4 million a day, we are now down to 2.5 million per day due to a shortage of vaccines", Amartya Lahiri, a professor of economics at the University of British Columbia, was quoted as saying in the Mint newspaper.

"The target of 5 million per day is the lower limit of what we should aim for. Because even at that level, it would take one year for us to get two doses for each person. Unfortunately, the situation is very grim", he said.