NEW DELHI — India witnessed a little rise in daily Covid cases for the third consecutive day on Sunday.
Amid the surge in daily infections, more than 4,000 people lost the battle against the deadly coronavirus in 24 hours and the nationwide death toll rose to 270,000.
On Sunday, the deadly virus claimed another 4,077 lives, while infections rose by 311,170 – the lowest rise in daily cases in more than three weeks, according to health ministry’s data. The total number of infections this week in India surpassed two million and deaths 28,000.
Keeping in view the reports that people are dumping bodies of the Covid-19 victims in the River Ganges, police are patrolling the banks of the river in India's most populous state of Uttar Pradesh to stop the practice. "We keep recovering 10 to 20 bodies every now and then," said Navneet Sehgal, spokesman for the northern state.
The second wave of the coronavirus pandemic hit India in February this year, shattering the country’s poorly-maintained healthcare system.
Maharashtra and Delhi were the states hit hardest by the pandemic, but cases have fallen steadily after the authorities imposed stringent lockdowns in recent days. Federal health officials said on Saturday the overall rate of positive cases dropped to 19.8 percent this week from 21.9 percent last week, raising hopes that the number of daily infections has begun to fall.