India recorded a record jump in one day, with more than 300,000 new coronavirus infections, marking a milestone for the country as a second, more deadly wave that shows no signs of abating.
The South Asian nation, which has the second largest outbreak in the world, reported 314,835 new cases on Thursday, pushing the total to almost 16 million cases. The United States, which is the most affected nation globally, saw a maximum increase of 314,312 cases on December 21 and reported just over 300,000 cases within two days of the pandemic. Infections in America are now on a downward trend, helped in part by aggressive vaccination.
Related to Covid deaths in India rose to 184,657. The country administered over 132 million vaccine doses, according to data from the Indian Ministry of Health. That’s enough to cover about 4.8 percent of its vast 1.3 billion people, according to Bloomberg’s vaccine tracker.
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The worsening outbreak threatens to derail the Indian economy, which had just begun to recover after a nationwide blockade last year pushed it into a historic recession. A new variant of the double-mutated virus has also emerged locally, and concerns are growing that they are driving the new fierce wave that is sweeping India hospitals and crematoria.