By VOA News
Covid-19 has shaken India, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi said in his monthly radio address Sunday (April 25), as he urged citizens to get their shots and not be swayed by what he called “any rumor about the vaccine.”
The remarks came as the capital city of New Delhi extended by one week a lockdown that was set to be lifted Monday.
India’s health ministry said 349,691 new covid-19 cases had been recorded in the nation in the previous 24-hour period, yet another daily record.
The new infection figures are likely undercounted, public health officials have warned. Reports from the ministry of a string of days with more than 300,000 new infections represents “just a fraction of the real reach of the virus’s spread,” according to the New York Times.
In addition to hundreds of thousands of new daily cases, India is also experiencing an oxygen shortage, literally leaving some covid patients gasping for air.
India is the world’s second most populous nation, with an estimated 1.4 billion people. (VOA) -jlo
