NEW DELHI: India crossed the grim milestone of 5 lakh COVID-19
deaths, becoming the third country in the world to do so after the US and
Brazil.
India took 217 days to reach 5 lakh deaths from 4 lakh recorded on July 1
last year. The country was hit by a devastating second wave in April-May
last year. India’s death toll had crossed three lakh-mark on May 23 and two
lakh-mark on April 27. The death toll went past one lakh on October 2, 2020.
The total death count has climbed to 5,00,055 with 1,072 daily fatalities,
Union Health Ministry data updated at 8 am on Saturday stated.
With over 9.2 lakh deaths, US has the highest number of fatalities due to
the infection followed by Brazil with over 6.3 lakh, according to the
Worldometers, which has been compiling global COVID-19 data.
India presently is facing a third wave of COVID driven by the highly
transmissible Omicron variant. However, according to experts, cases are
mostly mild this in comparison to the second wave. The government on
February 03 said the pandemic situation has improved and even though there
are states and districts of concern, overall there is a contraction in the
spread of COVID-19 infection. -INP
