#India’s coronavirus cases skyrocket to more than 500,000

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Healthcare workers wearing personal protective equipment in Mumbai, India.
REUTERS

India’s coronavirus cases have surged past 500,000, with the capital of New Delhi and other major cities reporting sharp upticks.

In the past 24 hours, for example, more than 17,000 COVID-19 cases have been confirmed, Reuters reported Saturday, citing federal data.

The surge puts India in fourth place with the most cases in the world, behind only the US, Brazil and Russia, according to a Reuters tally.

Infections are expected to rise so steadily that experts have told the federal government to focus on stopping deaths — not curbing the spread.

“Our focus should be on preventing deaths and not really getting bogged down because of the numbers. Numbers are going to increase,” Dr Manoj Murhekar, a member of India’s main coronavirus task force and director of the National Institute of Epidemiology, told Reuters.

New Delhi has a population of 20 million but only about 13,200 beds for COVID-19 patients and will add at least 20,000 in the coming weeks.

Some hospitals are being manned by army and paramilitary doctors. Authorities expect severe staff shortages in the upcoming months as hospitals are overwhelmed with patients.