India's confirmed coronavirus cases have crossed 2.5 million with another biggest single-day spike of 65,002 in the past 24 hours, reports AP. India is behind the United States and Brazil in the number of cases, reports AP.
The Health Ministry on Saturday also reported another 996 deaths for a total of 49,036. The average daily reported cases jumped from around 15,000 in the first week of July to more than 50,000 at the beginning of August.
The Health Ministry said the rise shows the extent of testing with 800,000 carried out in a single day. But experts say India needs to pursue testing more vigorously.
India's two-month lockdown imposed nationwide in late March kept infections low. But it has eased and is now largely being enforced in high-risk areas.
The new cases spiked after India reopened shops and manufacturing and allowed hundreds of thousands of migrant workers to return to their homes from coronavirus-hit regions. Subways, schools and movie theaters remain closed.
Meanwhile, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday said that as many three COVID-19 vaccines are in different stages of trials in the country, and once they are finally produced, India will ramp up infrastructure for mass production of the vaccines, reports Xinhua. Addressing the nation on the occasion of the 74th Independence Day from the ramparts of Red Fort, a historic monument in Delhi, Modi expressed hopes that the country will win the fight against the virus.
"Our roadmap to bring Corona vaccine to all Indians in shortest possible time is ready," said Modi in his Independence Day speech.
The prime minister also said that a self-reliant India is the need of the hour, and that it would soon turn into a reality.
Announcing the Digital Health Mission, Modi said a health identity card would be given to every citizen. This is a step towards providing health facilities for one and all even in the remotest areas of the country.
In another ambitious project, he said that as many as 600,000 villages would be connected through optical fibre in the next 1,000 days.
In another important announcement, Modi said that the National Infrastructure Pipeline Project would be undertaken with the investment of 1.10 lakh crore Indian Rupees (around 15.7 billion U.S. dollars).
