NEW DELHI: India on Saturday (Jun 12) reported 84,332 new COVID-19 infections over the past 24 hours, the lowest in more than two months, data from the health ministry showed.
The South Asian country’s total COVID-19 case load now stands at 29.4 million, while total fatalities are at 367,081, data.
India added 4,002 deaths overnight.
Overall, India’s cases and deaths have fallen steadily in the past weeks after a surge from mid-March.
Indian hospitals ran out of beds and life-saving oxygen during a devastating second wave of coronavirus in April and May and people died in parking lots outside hospitals and at their homes.
India has the second-highest tally of COVID-19 infections in the world after the United States, but the discovery of several thousand unreported deaths in the state of Bihar has raised suspicion that many more coronavirus victims have not been included in official figures.
The newly reported deaths had occurred last month and state officials were investigating the lapse, a district health official said, blaming the oversight on private hospitals.
Health experts say they believe both coronavirus infections and deaths are being significantly under-counted across the country partly because test facilities are rare in rural areas, where two-thirds of Indians live, and hospitals are few and far between.
Many people have fallen ill and died at home without being tested for the coronavirus.
