This content was published on April 04, 2022 – 06:40 April 04, 2022 – 06:40
New Delhi, April 4 (EFE). – India on Monday registered fewer than a thousand cases of coronavirus for the first time in two years, amid a drop in infections that has prompted several regions to withdraw fines for mask use, one of the country’s biggest easings before was the global epicenter of the disease for a year.
The 913 cases confirmed today by India’s Health Ministry are the lowest since April 2020, when this nation of more than 1.35 billion people was under a strict curfew that left the streets deserted and halted almost all economic activity.
The positive rate is 0.29%, well below the 20% it recorded three months ago when the entry of the omicron variant triggered more than 300,000 cases daily.
As of today, the total number of infections since the pandemic began is 43.02 million, a number surpassed only by the United States at just over 80 million.
The number of daily deaths has also slowed in recent weeks, with 13 deaths in the last 24 hours, bringing the total since the disease began to 521,358 deaths, according to official figures.
As a result of this fall in infections, several states in India announced the end of fines or mandatory use of masks on public roads, although authorities have insisted they are not lowering their vigilance.
Among them is the western state of Maharashtra, which has been hardest hit by the virulence of the pandemic, which has recorded 147,789 deaths and is now best with 117 positive and 2 deaths reported in the past 24 hours.
The capital New Delhi, another region hardest hit by oxygen and supply shortages that suffered at the peak of infections last May, also announced the withdrawal of this measure.
This easing comes on top of the resumption of international commercial flights that began on March 27, which will allow the revival of its tourist and economic activity.
Since January 30, 2020, when authorities confirmed the first coronavirus case in a person from the Chinese city of Wuhan, India has experienced three waves of infection, worst in May 2021, adding more than 400,000 cases and 4,000 deaths per day, with bed shortages in hospitals and overcrowded crematoria. EFE
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