Coronavirus: India records 75,000 deaths in May alone; highest yet
As India reported over 3,800 fresh COVID-19 deaths on Thursday, the total number of fatalities in May crossed 75,000. With 11 days to go before the month ends, this is already the highest number of deaths recorded in a single month since the pandemic began. Meanwhile, experts fear the true number of deaths and infections may be five-10 times higher due to insufficient testing.
India's tally reaches 2.57 crore cases, 2.87 lakh deaths
According to the Union Health Ministry, till Thursday morning, India reported a total of 2,57,72,400 COVID-19 cases. The death toll has reached 2,87,122. So far, 2,23,55,440 patients have recovered, while 31,29,878 cases involve active infections. In the past 24 hours alone, India recorded 2,76,070 new infections, 3,69,077 more discharges, and 3,874 fresh fatalities. 18,70,09,792 vaccine doses have been administered so far.
Tamil Nadu reports record 34.8K new cases
Maharashtra reported 34,031 new COVID-19 cases along with 51,457 more recoveries. Karnataka—the second worst-hit state after Maharashtra—reported 34,281 new cases and 49,953 discharges. Meanwhile, the third worst-hit Kerala added 32,762 new cases and 48,413 recoveries. Uttar Pradesh reported 7,336 new cases and 19,669 recoveries. Tamil Nadu—the fifth worst-hit state—reported the biggest single-day spike of 34,875 new cases and 23,863 recoveries.
75K COVID-19 deaths in May so far
Even as India's COVID-19 cases decline, the country has already reported over 75,000 deaths in May, the highest for any month since the beginning of the pandemic. The previous high of nearly 49,000 recorded COVID-19 deaths in a month was in April 2021. During the first wave of COVID-19, the highest deaths reported in a month only reached 33,000 in September 2020.
Two-thirds of Indians exposed to COVID-19
Experts fear that the actual number of infections and fatalities could be grossly underreported as the virus may outrun India's COVID-19 testing potential. Data from Thyrocare showed that 63.5% of people tested positive for COVID-19 antibodies indicating runaway spread of the virus. The data was collected from 25 states from people infected in the past, along with vaccinated, uninfected, and unvaccinated persons.
