India becomes first country to hit 400,000 daily Covid cases

Daily infections expected to keep rising as government seeks to step up ailing vaccine drive, reports Andy Gregory

Relatives perform the last rites of a coronavirus victim at a crematorium in Ghazipur (AFP/Getty)

With its health system already strained beyond the brink, India has become the first country in the world to report more than 400,000 new coronavirus cases in a single day.

After 10 consecutive days of recording more than 300,000 new infections, India added a further 401,993 cases – and 3,523 deaths – to its official tally on Saturday. These totals significantly exceed the previous global record of 297,430 daily cases set by the United States in January.

And experts analysing the trajectory of India’s devastating second wave believe not only that this new record fails to reflect the true, higher number of actual cases and deaths, but that the country’s current outbreak is yet to hit its peak.