India coronavirus infections surge past 100,000, deaths top 3,000

India reported 4,970 new cases over the previous 24 hours, taking its total to 101,139. Deaths rose by 134 to 3,163, Reuters reported.

India’s number of cases has easily outstripped that of China, where the virus emerged late last year and which has been one of Asia’s infection hot spots.

new cases in India have risen by an average of more than 4,000 a day over the past week, according to a Reuters tally based on official data, despite a severe weeks-long lockdown.

India officially extended the lockdown on Sunday to May 31, although several states indicated they would allow businesses to reopen.

Health experts and officials are worried about the strain the epidemic is placing on India’s over-stretched and under-funded hospital system.

Dhruva Chaudhry, president of the Indian Society of Critical Care Medicine, told Reuters last month that India probably had only about 100,000 intensive care unit (ICU) beds and 40,000 ventilators.