India reports 3.62 lakh new Covid-19 cases, 4,120 deaths

India reported 3,62,727 new Covid-19 cases in a single day on Thursday while 4,120 people died from the infection, data from the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare updated this morning showed.

The country has so far registered 2,58,317 deaths from the virus. The fatality rate is 1.09 per cent.

There are now 37,10,525 active Covid-19 cases in India. So far, 2,37,03,665 people across the nation have contracted the virus since the beginning of the pandemic last year.

Over the past 24 hours, 3,52,181 recovered from the disease. India's recovery rate stands at 83.26 per cent.

The surge in cases has been accompanied by a slowdown in vaccinations, although Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced that vaccinations would open to all adults from May 1.

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Two states - Karnataka, which includes tech hub Bengaluru, and Maharashtra, which includes Mumbai - have announced they will temporarily suspend vaccination for people aged 18-44 years as they prioritise those over 45 who need their second dose.

India is the world's largest vaccine producer but has run low on stocks in the face of the huge demand. As of Thursday, it had fully vaccinated just over 38.2 million people, or about 2.8% of a population of about 1.35 billion, government data shows.

Meanwhile, a top American health official said that Covid-19 vaccines approved by the United States like Pfizer, Moderna and Johnson and Johnson have effectiveness against the B.1.617 variant of the virus that is predominant in India, which is experiencing one of the worst outbreaks of the pandemic.

Also read: Lockdown in Karnataka has failed to curb Covid-19 case growth so far: Analysis

However, some studies have shown that the variant can bypass the vaccine's efficacy.

Multiple states on Wednesday stopped vaccinations for the 18-44 age group after a symbolic start since May 1 after acute shortages were reported. India has seen the biggest rise in daily infections in the world with hospitals still struggling to keep up with a swarm of critical patients.

With low supplies of vaccines and shortage of oxygen, deaths -- official and unofficial -- have been on the rise. Experts believe that India's unofficial Covid-19 death toll is far higher than can be accounted for.

Experts remain unsure when numbers will peak and concern is growing about the transmissibility of the variant that is driving infections in India and spreading worldwide.

Bhramar Mukherjee, a professor of epidemiology at the University of Michigan, said most models had predicted a peak this week and that the country could be seeing signs of that trend.

Still, the number of new cases each day is large enough to overwhelm hospitals, she said on Twitter. "The key word is cautious optimism."

The situation is particularly bad in rural areas of Uttar Pradesh. Television pictures have shown families weeping over the dead in rural hospitals or camping in wards to tend the sick.

Bodies have washed up in the Ganges, the river that flows through the state, as crematoriums are overwhelmed and wood for funeral pyres is in short supply.

"Official statistics give you no idea of the devastating pandemic that is raging through rural UP," wrote well-known activist and opposition politician Yogendra Yadav in The Print.

"Widespread ignorance, lack of nearby or adequate testing facilities, official and unofficial cap on testing and inordinate delays in test reports have meant that in village after village, virtually no one has been tested, while scores of people complain of a ‘strange fever’".