India’s official Covid-19 death toll passes 250,000

New Delhi (dpa), 12 May, 2021 - India’s daily Covid-19 death count hit 4,205 on Wednesday, setting a new daily record and taking the total fatalities due to the disease in the country past 250,000.

A total of 348,421 fresh infections have been reported since Tuesday, according to a federal Health Ministry bulletin.

India’s total caseload surged past 23 million as the country battled with a second virulent and deadly wave  of the pandemic.

As many as 533 of India’s 700-plus administrative districts are now reporting a test positivity rate of more than 10 per cent, government officials said during a weekly briefing.

 “It is still too early to say whether we have reached the peak. There is some indication of the cases plateauing. But we must not forget that this is a very high plateau,” virologist Shahid Jameel was quoted as saying by Indian Express newspaper.

Experts have stressed the need to step up vaccinations to fight the rising cases, but several states reported a shortage of doses.

The latest surge of Covid-19 in India has been linked to a variant of the virus - B.1.617 - which has been found in 44 countries according to the World Health Organization (WHO) and has been labelled it a variant of concern.