The South Asian nation reported greater than 168,000 new circumstances over a 24-hour interval on Monday, in response to well being ministry knowledge. Round 83% of the brand new infections had been reported in 10 states, together with the western state of Maharashtra, which is residence to India’s monetary capital Mumbai.

Because the starting of April, India has reported greater than 1.37 million circumstances, bringing the nation’s whole variety of infections since final January to over 13.5 million; circumstances started rising since February after reaching a peak in September.

Although Maharashtra has been the hardest-hit state within the second wave, circumstances in different areas — together with the populous state of Uttar Pradesh — are going up.

Well being Minister Harsh Vardhan has reportedly blamed the second wave of infections on folks’s lack of dedication towards sporting masks and practising social distancing.

However in latest weeks, politicians, together with Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Bharatiya Janata Get together, in addition to different political events held election rallies in states like West Bengal the place giant crowds gathered — most of them with out sporting masks. There have been additionally a string of non secular gatherings that befell in numerous elements of the nation.

India’s well being ministry says that greater than 100 million doses of vaccines have been administered because the authorities started an bold inoculation program in January. Since April 1, anybody over 45 years previous is eligible for his or her pictures.

Media stories say that some states, together with Maharashtra, are dealing with a extreme vaccine scarcity. The Indian authorities, in response, accused these states of diverting consideration away from their failure to regulate the virus.