BENGALURU/NEW DELHI (INDIA) – The pandemic seems to show no sign of abating in India as the death toll from the novel coronavirus crossed 100,000 on Saturday. The country becomes the third in the world to reach this morbid milestone after the US and Brazil.
The fatalities climbed to 100,842, according to the health ministry and the tally of infections reached 6.47 million after recording a daily spurt of 79,476. The country has the highest rate of daily increase in cases in the world.
In the wake of the economy taking a beating because of the strict lockdown to stem the spread of the virus in March, Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government has fully opened the country.
This week, movie halls were allowed to open to half capacity and schools have been allowed to reopen from the middle of this month.
Health experts predict a sudden spike in the number of cases as the nation slowly heads into winter as well as the holiday season next month, including the festival of lights, Diwali.
“We have seen some recent slowdown of the virus curve but this may be a local peak, there may be another coming,” said Bhramar Mukherjee, a professor of biostatistics and epidemiology at the University of Michigan.
She said a little over 7% of the population of 1.3 billion had been exposed to coronavirus, which means that the country is yet to attain herd immunity.
The number of infections could reach 12.2 million by the year end and its rate of spread would depend on the efficacy of measures such as social distancing, she said.
“So it will continue like a slow burning coil, that is my hope, and we have to play the long game to stop it from being a wildfire.”