Covid spreading in rural India; record daily rises in infections, deaths

A health worker wearing a personal protective equipment (PPE) suit attends to a Covid-19 coronavirus patient inside the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) of the Teerthanker Mahaveer University (TMU) hospital in Moradabad

India reported a record 412,262 new Covid-19 cases on Thursday and a record 3,980 daily death toll, as a second wave of infections swamps the health system and spreads from cities into the vast countryside. Covid-19 infections in the world's second most populous nation have surged past 21 million, with a death toll of 230,168, health ministry data show. Government modelling had forecast a peak in second wave infections by Wednesday. ‘This temporarily halts speculations of a peak,’ Rijo M John, a professor at the Indian Institute of Management in the southern state of Kerala, said on Twitter.