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A five-month high 794 deaths brought the toll to 168,436.
India reported a record 145,384 new COVID-19 cases, health ministry data showed on Saturday, as the country grappled with a overwhelming second-wave of infections.
A five-month high 794 deaths brought the toll to 168,436.
India’s overall caseload was 13.21 million, the third-highest globally, behind the United States and Brazil.
India reports 1,45,384 new COVID19 cases, 77,567 discharges, and 794 deaths in the last 24 hours, as per the Union Health Ministry
Total cases: 1,32,05,926
Total recoveries: 1,19,90,859
Active cases: 10,46,631
Death toll: 1,68,436Total vaccination: 9,80,75,160 pic.twitter.com/ed39ltrY7W
— ANI (@ANI) April 10, 2021
Mumbai in lockdown
Most coronavirus-hit state Maharashtra went into a weekend lockdown on Saturday as the country battles exploding infection numbers and vaccine shortages.
Having let its guard down with mass religious festivals, political rallies and spectators at cricket matches, the world’s second most populous nation has added more than a million new infections since late March.
Mumbai: Empty roads along the Marine Drive during weekend lockdown imposed in the city to control the spread of COVID19#Maharashtra pic.twitter.com/yRuLA9XmR3
— ANI (@ANI) April 10, 2021
After a lockdown a year ago caused widespread misery and hit the economy for six, the central government is desperate to avoid a hugely unpopular second shutdown.
Mumbai: Checking of vehicles underway near Marine Drive as strict restrictions have been imposed in the city on the weekend to control the spread of COVID19
Home delivery of food and essential supplies and movement of students taking various exams allowed pic.twitter.com/XLTEszmT3q
— ANI (@ANI) April 10, 2021
But many states are tightening the screw, in particular the epicentre Maharashtra and its capital Mumbai, where restaurants are shut and public gatherings of more than five people are banned.
Every weekend from Saturday until the end of April the state’s 125 million people are confined to their homes unless shopping for food, medicine or travelling.
“I’m not for the lockdown at all but I don’t think the government has any other choice,” media professional Neha Tyagi, 27, told AFP in Mumbai.
“This lockdown could have been totally avoided if people would take the virus seriously.”
#WATCH Mumbai under weekend lockdown till 6am on Monday, to curb the spread of #COVID19 infection
The city reported 9,200 COVID19 cases and 35 deaths yesterday. pic.twitter.com/1kH3Uttann
— ANI (@ANI) April 10, 2021
Cricket is now played behind closed doors — including the big-bucks Indian Premier League, which began Friday — and in many states including in the capital New Delhi a night curfew is in force.
All eight teams in the IPL, which includes the sport’s top international stars, are in strict bio-bubbles and four players have so far tested positive.
Raipur district, home to the capital of Chhattisgarh state, is under a 10-day lockdown with no one allowed to enter the area unless performing essential services.
Vaccines run short
India’s drive to vaccinate its 1.3 billion people also looks to be hitting problems, with just 94 million shots provided so far and stocks running low.
In megacity Mumbai, 25 out of 71 private hospitals administering jabs ran out of supplies on Thursday, city authorities said.
The situation at government-run inoculation centres was not much better, with a giant 1,000-bed field hospital turning away people arriving for their first dose on Friday morning.
City authorities tweeted that the shortage was “due to non-receipt of stocks” from the national government.
The Times of India reported on Friday that states on average had just over five days of stock left, according to health ministry data, with some regions already grappling with severe shortages.
But the central government has accused some states — run by opposition parties — of “distract(ing) attention from their failures” and playing politics.
“It is not right to say that there is a vaccine shortage. Vaccines have been made available to all states according to their needs,” Home Minister Amit Shah said on Friday.
The CEO of the Serum Institute of India, the world’s biggest vaccine maker by volume, has warned that production capacity is “very stressed”.
Poorer countries, as well as some rich nations, have relied heavily on Serum for supplies of the AstraZeneca vaccine, but last month New Delhi put the brakes on exports to prioritise domestic needs.
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