India recorded a world record in the number of daily infections in Corona, while the death toll from the virus today, Wednesday, exceeded 200,000.
The second wave of Corona in India saw more than 300,000 people infected daily during the past week, which exceeded the ability of health care facilities and crematoriums to function and sparked a broad international response to help India.
In the past 24 hours, the health authorities in this country recorded 360,960 new cases, which is the largest daily number in the world, bringing the total number of injuries in India to about 18 million.
The deaths increased by 3,293, the most daily toll in India so far, which raises the number of deaths due to infection with the Coronavirus to 201,187.
India’s Covid variant?
Experts fear that a mutated variant of the coronavirus is responsible for the dramatic surge in cases during the second wave. Before the resurgence, India reported an average of around 10,000 new cases daily.
Since last year, the virus has mutated multiple times. The World Health Organization classifies those variants as either “variant of interest” or “variant of concern.” Variant of concern typically refers to a variant that shows an increase in transmissibility and more severe disease, including greater rates of hospitalization or death.
WHO classified the B1617 variant, with multiple sub-lineages that have slightly different characteristic mutations, as a variant of interest in its weekly epidemiological update on the pandemic. It was first detected in India last October but, as of Tuesday, was present in at least 17 countries including the United States, the U.K. and Singapore.
The international health body said in its report that the B1617 variant is circulating in India alongside other variants of concern as well as variant B1618, which was detected in some states. The WHO said these variants may be collectively playing a role in the current resurgence.