India is experiencing a sharp rise in coronavirus infections, increasing pressure on New Delhi to accelerate its vaccine rollout and puzzling scientists after a retreat of the pandemic had buoyed hopes that parts of the country had reached herd immunity. he nation has reported more than 40,000 daily Covid-19 infections since Friday, up from lows of about 11,000 last month. On Thursday, India reported 53,000 new infections in the past 24 hours, the highest since October.
Cases are rising in 23 of the 30 states or union territories for which figures are available, according to a Financial Times analysis, with the percentage of positive tests rising in 21 of those. est positivity rates are now doubling every five days in several states, the FT analysis shows. That is faster than the growth rate seen in the UK when the B.1.1.7 variant took off at the end of 2020 and is suggestive of rapid community spread. At the height of the winter surge in London, doubling time was only nine days by comparison.
The resurgence is led by Maharashtra, home to India’s financial capital and economic powerhouse Mumbai, which is registering record daily infections of more than 30,000. Twenty per cent of its tests are coming back positive. Scientists are unclear what is driving the increase, particularly after widespread infection last year prompted speculation about whether parts of India were enjoying a degree of herd immunity.