Covid Deaths Top 4000 in India, WHO Green-lights Chinese Vaccine

By Staff, Agencies 

New Covid-19 deaths surged past 4,000 for the first time in India on Saturday as it struggled with one of the world's worst outbreaks, but the global immunization effort was boosted with WHO approval for Chinese firm Sinopharm's vaccine.

And while many Western countries have started easing restrictions thanks to rapid vaccinations, the head of the World Health Organization warned that more countries could suffer the kind of deadly outbreaks currently raging in India, Brazil, and Nepal.

India now accounts for nearly half of the world's new known cases according to an AFP database, and it reported a national record of 4,187 new deaths Saturday.

The Indian government has struggled to contain the outbreak, which has overwhelmed its healthcare system and sparked anger and frustration among the public.

India reported more than 400,000 new infections on Saturday, but many experts suspect the official death and case numbers are a gross underestimate.

The surge has spilled into next-door Bangladesh, Nepal and Sri Lanka.

India’s eastern neighbor Pakistan on Saturday began a nine-day shutdown targeting travel and tourist hot spots to try to stop its outbreak from snowballing during the upcoming Eid celebrations at the end of the Islamic holy month of Ramadan.