India records 382,315 new Covid-19 cases, tally crosses 20.66 million

India on Wednesday (May 5, 2021) registered 382,315 fresh cases of coronavirus disease (Covid-19) in the preceding 24 hours, pushing the nationwide infection tally past 20.66 million. 3,780 new fatalities were recorded in the same duration, mounting the country's Covid-19 death toll to 226,188. The country's cumulative case count has now reached 20,665,148, according to the Union health ministry's dashboard at 9:15am.

India, battling the more infectious second wave of the coronavirus disease, has now registered over 300,000 daily Covid-19 cases for two weeks straight. The active coronavirus caseload, which crossed the three-million-mark nearly a week ago, currently stands at 3,487,229. This accounts for 17% of the total confirmed Covid-19 cases in the country. As many as 338,439 patients were discharged in the last 24 hours and so far, and 16,951,731 people in total have recovered from the viral disease, the health ministry's dashboard displayed. With this, the country's recovery rate stands at 81.91%, the government said. As many as 160,494,188 Covid-19 vaccines have been administered in the country so far.

India's coronavirus caseload topped the 20-million mark on Tuesday, with the health system continuing to crumble under the weight of new cases and hospitals reporting a shortage of ICU beds and medical oxygen. The Indian Premier League (IPL), a lucrative cricket competition involving some of the sport's biggest global stars, was finally suspended in view of the crisis after several players tested positive for Covid-19 even inside their designated "bio-bubbles". Although the number of new infections has come down from a peak of 402,000 last week, raising hopes that the worst of the devastating wave may have passed, many suspect the fewer number of cases might be a result of reduced testing. According to research, the deaths from Covid-19 in India may even double from current levels in the coming months.

Meanwhile, India is not the only country in the renewed warpath of the deadlier coronavirus wave. Fierce new Covid-19 waves are enveloping other developing countries, from Laos to Thailand, across the world. The increase is mainly because of more contagious virus variants, though complacency and lack of resources to contain the spread have also been cited as reasons.