India registered 1,700 deaths from coronavirus in the last 24 hours, the highest daily figure since the start of the pandemic, with which the Asian country exceeds the barrier of 180,000 deaths.
The Ministry of Health indicated through its account on the social network Twitter that on the last day 259,170 cases and 1,761 deaths were reported, which places the totals at 15,321,089 and 180,530, respectively.
In this way, it establishes itself as the second country in the world with the most total positives , behind the United States, and fourth in terms of the number of deaths from the virus.
The epicenter of the rebound in recent weeks is the state of Maharashtra, where the city of Mumbai (Bombay) is located, which accumulates about a third of active cases, although the situation is equally worrying in the capital, New Delhi, as yesterday began a six-day lockdown to try to contain the spread of the virus.
In this sense, the chief minister of New Delhi, Arvind Kejriwal, warned that “the health system is at a point of no return.”
“I will not say it has collapsed but the Covid situation is pretty critical,” he was quoted as saying by the NDTV news channel after confirming maximum numbers of infections in recent days.
“I was always against confinement. I think that this measure will not put an end to the virus, but it will reduce the rate of infection,” he argued.
“It will give us time to increase our infrastructure. We will use this week-long lockdown to improve our exit system,” he said.
The country, of 1.300 million inhabitants, has been registering more than 200,000 daily cases for a week.
Faced with this situation, the authorities made the decision to “allow all persons over 18 years of age to be vaccinated as of May 1,” the Ministry of Health indicated.
To respond to its immense needs, India, home to the world’s largest vaccine factory, the Serum Institute, halted exports and will speed up the approval process for use for vaccines produced outside its territory.
The critical situation in India led British Prime Minister Boris Johnson to cancel his official trip to that country scheduled for the end of April.
The United Kingdom also decided to prohibit the entry of travelers from its former colony, with the exception of British citizens and residents.
