The Indian government said Saturday (May 22) that COVID-19 infections remained high as they spread to overburdened rural areas, but it added that infections were stabilizing in some parts of the country.
India’s health ministry reported more than 250,000 new COVID-19 cases and nearly 4,200 deaths in the previous 24-hour period.
Health ministry official Lav Agarwal told reporters during a virtual briefing that infections were rising in the southern states of Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu.
But Agarwal also said infections had dropped in the last two weeks in the southwestern Indian states of Maharashtra and Karnataka and the coastal state of Kerala.
“To break the chain of transmission, it is very important to follow COVID-appropriate behavior,” Agarwal said.
As India struggles with a faltering health care system and vaccine shortages, experts have warned of a third wave of infections in the coming months.
As of Saturday afternoon, India was second only to the U.S. in infections, with nearly 26.3 million, and in COVID-19 deaths, with more than 295,000, according to Johns Hopkins University. (VOA) -jlo
