India recorded 4,529 new deaths from covid-19 on Wednesday, a grim new world record in a country that’s reeling from uncontrolled spread of the disease. India also reported 267,334 new coronavirus infections for the day.
Global health experts believe the actual number of new infections and deaths in India is likely much higher than the official count, though there are encouraging signs that the number of infections has started to level off.
India has reported over 25.5 million cases of covid-19 and 283,248 deaths since the start of the pandemic. The country has seen the second highest number of cases in the world, with the U.S. recording the highest number, over 32.9 million infections since the pandemic began.
India has vaccinated over 185.8 million people, with over 1.3 million people getting inoculated yesterday alone, according to the vaccination tracker maintained by the Hindustan Times. But India’s population is 1.36 billion people, meaning that it has quite a ways to go before it can reach herd immunity from covid-19.
India isn’t the only country in Asia struggling with a surge in coronavirus cases and deaths. Malaysia recorded 6,075 new cases on Wednesday, according to Singapore’s Strait Times, a record high for the country. Health officials in Malaysia are now reportedly mulling a nationwide lockdown in an effort to dampen the spread of the virus, but no final decision has been made.
The only way out of the pandemic globally is getting as many people as possible vaccinated. So if you have the opportunity, get the shot. The faster that happens, the faster everyone can get back to normal.