South Asia, Thailand hit grim virus milestones

NEW DELHI/BANGKOK • Coronavirus infections in the South Asia sub-region have surpassed the grim milestone of 15 million, a Reuters tally on Saturday showed, led by India's record daily infections and vaccine shortages.

South Asia - India, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Bhutan, Nepal, Maldives, and Sri Lanka - accounts for 11 per cent of global cases and almost 6 per cent of deaths.

Meanwhile, Thailand yesterday reported 967 new coronavirus cases, the biggest one-day jump, as the country deals with a third wave of infections.

The South Asia region accounts for 23 per cent of the world's population of 7.59 billion people.

India, the country with the third-highest global coronavirus total, accounts for over 84 per cent of South Asia's cases and deaths.

The world's second-most populous country reported 145,384 new cases on Saturday, the fastest climb in the world and the country's fifth record last week, as well as 794 deaths.

The government blames the current spike on crowding and a reluctance to wear masks.

India is accounting for one in every six reported infections amid its current surge.

While the country has ramped up its vaccination drive, inoculating about four million people a day, several states said they were rationing doses as the federal government was not refilling stocks in time.

India's western neighbour Pakistan, the second hardest hit in the region, is in its third wave, recording more than 700,000 cases and 15,000 related deaths. It has seen a sharp rise in cases in the past 10 days.

Officials say there are now more Pakistanis in intensive care than at any other point during the pandemic.

Bangladesh, India's eastern neighbour, is reporting about 7,000 cases a day, totalling some 678,937 cases.

At least 94.1 million people had received their first Covid-19 vaccine dose in southern Asia by last Friday, according to figures from Our World in Data.

In Thailand, the new cases took the total number of infections to 32,625, with deaths remaining at 97, according to the Covid-19 information centre.

Dr Suksan Kittisupakorn, who is director-general of Thailand's Medical Service Department, told reporters on Saturday that the country is planning to install 10,000 field hospital beds in Bangkok.

At least a dozen hospitals in the capital said they had stopped testing for Covid-19 as at last Friday due to a lack of kits or bed capacity.

Hospitals are reluctant to test because they must admit people if they test positive, the authorities say.

"We aim to increase (field) hospital beds to 10,000 in no time, which should give the public confidence that we can still contain this round of outbreak," Dr Suksan said.

The current surge appeared to be the country's worst yet, he said.

The outbreak, which includes the highly transmissible B117 variant first identified in Britain, has rapidly spread to 62 of Thailand's 77 provinces, Dr Opas Karnkawinpong of the Department of Disease Control told a briefing on Saturday.

Meanwhile, Iran on Saturday imposed a 10-day lockdown across most of the country to curb the spread of a fourth wave of the coronavirus pandemic.

The new lockdown affects 23 of the country's 31 provinces, Health Ministry spokesman Alireza Raisi said.

Iran's coronavirus cases have surpassed two million, with a new daily average of over 20,000 infections over the past week, according to the Health Ministry. It has reported more than 64,000 fatalities.

REUTERS