India's coronavirus infections crossed 200,000, official figures showed on Wednesday, and a peak could still be weeks away in the world's second-most populous country, where the economy has begun re-opening after a lockdown imposed in March, report agencies.
Cases jumped by 8,909 over the previous day in one of the highest single-day spikes, taking the tally to 207,615, the health ministry said.
"We are very far away for the peak," said Dr Nivedita Gupta, of the government-run Indian Council of Medical Research. Government officials have previously said it could be later this month, or even July, before cases start to fall off.
The death toll from the disease stood at 5,815.
In Pakistan the alarming trend of coronavirus cases surging across the country continued as a record number of 4,131 new coronavirus cases emerged across the country and 67 deaths were reported over the last 24 hours, on Wednesday.
The latest surge in Covid-19 cases takes the nation-wide tally to 80,463 while the death toll has risen to 1,688. According to statistics provided by NCOC, Pakistan has broken its previous record number of new Covid-19 cases reported over 24 hours yesterday which was 3,938.
Earlier on Sunday, Pakistan reported its most number of deaths during 24 hours with 88 new fatalities, however, given the swelling number of coronavirus cases, doctors and health experts have warned that the infection is likely to further spread unless a strict lockdown is not imposed.
Six other nations, including the United States, Britain and Brazil, have higher caseloads, and in India's favour, at least its mortality rate has been comparably low.
The pandemic has killed at least 383,011 people worldwide since it surfaced in China late last year, according to Worldometers tally on Wednesday, based on official sources.
There have been 6,477,456 cases registered in 196 countries and territories.
The United States is the worst-hit country with 106,181 deaths, followed by Britain with 39,369, Italy with 33,530, Brazil with 31,199 and France with 28,940.
Brazil surpasses a chilling landmark of 30,000 deaths -- the fourth deadliest outbreak in the world.
Figures released by Brazil's health ministry show a new record 1,262 deaths in the previous 24 hours, as well as 28,936 new infections.
But some states begin to emerge from weeks of quarantine measures despite warnings from the World Health Organisation and epidemiologists it is too much, too soon.
As Europe emerges from lockdowns and quarantines, Italy leads the way as the first country on the continent to reopen its borders to European travellers.
International flights are only expected to resume in three main cities: Milan, Rome and Naples.
Germany will lift its blanket travel warning for European nations from June 15, Foreign Minister Heiko Maas says.
The warning will be replaced by advice for individual nations, "provided that there are no longer any entry bans or large-scale lockdowns in the respective countries", he says.
The Lancet issues an "expression of concern" over a large-scale study of hydroxychloroquine and chloroquine it published that led to the WHO suspending clinical trials of the anti-viral drugs as a potential treatment for Covid-19.
An expression of concern is not as severe as a journal withdrawing a published study, but it signifies that the research is potentially problematic.
The United Nations rights chief Michelle Bachelet warns that China and other Asian countries are using the pandemic as an excuse to clamp down on free expression and tighten censorship.
© 2025 - All Rights with The Financial Express
