India tops four million virus cases as pandemic rages
India has become the third country to pass four million coronavirus infections, setting a new record daily surge in cases on Saturday as the pandemic showed no sign of peaking.
The new cases took India to 4,023,179 infections, third behind the United States which has more than 6.3 million and just trailing Brazil on 4.1 million.
The growing caseload comes after the World Health Organization said it did not expect widespread immunisation against Covid-19 until mid-2021.
The WHO also ruled out endorsing a vaccine that has not been proven safe and effective, over concerns around the rush to develop a jab for the virus.
As governments around the world enforce measures to slow the virus, police in Australia — which has reported 26,200 cases and 748 deaths — arrested more than a dozen protesters in Melbourne on Saturday for deliberately flouting the city’s stay-at-home orders.
Several thousand people rallied in the main square of the Croatian capital Zagreb to protest against coronavirus curbs.
They carried banners proclaiming: “Covid is a lie, we are not all covidiots,” and “Take off the mask, turn off the TV, live a full life”.
About 1,000 protesters demonstrated in central Rome against the mandatory use of face masks. Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte reacted frostily to the event, saying: “More than 274,000 ill and 35,000 dead. Full stop.”
India has eased restrictions in a bid to revive the economy but faces the world’s fastest growing number of cases at more than 80,000 a day and the highest daily death toll at more than 1,000. The death toll now stands at 69,561. (AFP)
