India records over 400,000 COVID-19 cases in 24 hours

• India has become the new epicentre of COVID-19 in the world.
• 401,993 new infections registered in India during the last 24 hours taking the total caseload to 19.1 million.
• 3,523 deaths have also been reported, bringing the toll to 211,853.

NEW DELHI: India recorded on Saturday over 400,000 new COVID-19 cases in 24 hours for the first time, the first country to do so in the pandemic, official data showed.

According to the health ministry, 401,993 new infections were registered taking the total caseload to 19.1 million. There were 3,523 deaths, bringing the toll to 211,853.

Many experts suspect that because of insufficient testing and inaccurate recording of cause of death, the real numbers are much higher.

Indian authorities lowered their guard in the early part of the year after infections fell below 10,000 per day, lifting restrictions on most activity.

Mass religious gatherings such as the Kumbh Mela, attracting millions of Hindu pilgrims, and political rallies were allowed to continue even when cases numbers began rising sharply in late March.

In April alone, India recorded around seven million new infections. On a per-capita basis however, India’s caseload remains low compared to many other countries.

Fire at hospital kills 16 COVID-19 patients

At least 16 Covid-19 patients and two nurses died Saturday in the latest in a series of hospital fires in India, officials said, as the country's health care system buckles under a surge in cases.

Read more: Medical oxygen: Why are supplies dwindling and how is it made?

There were around 50 other patients at the four-storey hospital in Bharuch in the western state of Gujarat when the blaze began at 1:00 am (0730 GMT). It has since been put out.

The death toll stood at 18, local police official Rajendrasinh Chudasama told AFP, "including 16 patients and two nurses."

"Primary investigation revealed that the fire started due to a short-circuit in the ICU of the hospital," he said.

On April 23 a fire on the outskirts of Mumbai killed 13 Covid-19 patients, a few days after another blaze left 22 people dead at another clinic, also in Maharashtra state.

India's health care system has long suffered from underfunding, and the new virus outbreak has seen critical shortages in oxygen, drugs and hospital beds, with patients dying outside hospitals in some areas.