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Explainer | How is India fighting the coronavirus pandemic?
- India has the world’s third-highest number of Covid-19 cases and fourth-highest death toll, overtaking Britain
- Five ministers in Narendra Modi’s cabinet have the virus and experts predict a long battle ahead even as vaccine trials continue
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With nearly 2.4 million coronavirus cases and 47,000 deaths, India is the world’s third-most affected country, behind the United States and Brazil.
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It reported a record daily increase of 66,999 cases on Thursday, and added 942 fatalities, overtaking Britain to have the world’s fourth-highest death toll, after the US, Brazil and Mexico.
With infection rates rapidly rising, there are fears among health experts and the public that the worst is yet to come for the country of 1.3 billion people.
So far for August, India has had the highest share of the global caseload, reporting between 23 and 29 per cent of new daily infections. And the South Asian nation’s second million cases came within 21 days, faster than both the US and Brazil, which reached the grim milestone in 43 days and 27 days respectively.
This is despite the fact that India’s testing rate – about 18,300 per million – is significantly lower than other badly hit countries. There are also concerns that the extent of the situation is not being fully reported as the health care system is limited in its ability to map the trend.
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Where does India stand?
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