India sees record Covid deaths, new cases in 24 hours

India saw almost 4,000 Covid deaths and more than 412,000 new cases in the past 24 hours, both new records, official data showed Thursday.

Health ministry numbers showed 3,980 deaths, taking the total to 230,168, and 412,262 new cases, bringing India’s caseload since the pandemic began to 21.1 million.

The renewed rise follows several days of falling case numbers that had raised government hopes that the recent catastrophic surge may have been easing.

Having hit a high of 402,000 last Friday, the daily number of cases eased in subsequent days to as low as 357,000 before creeping up again on Tuesday.

The sharp rise in cases since late March has overwhelmed hospitals in many places with fatal shortages of beds, drugs and oxygen.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government has resisted imposing a new lockdown although several regions including the capital New Delhi, Bihar and Maharashtra have imposed local shutdowns.