India logs slimmest rise in COVID-19 cases in 543 days despite festivals

India reported 7,579 new coronavirus infections on Tuesday, the smallest rise in one-and-a-half-years despite huge festival gatherings in recent weeks, thanks to rising vaccinations and antibodies from prior infections.

>>Reuters
Published : 23 Nov 2021, 08:22 AM
Updated : 23 Nov 2021, 08:23 AM

The country of 1.35 billion celebrated Durga Puja in October and Diwali this month, during which millions of people shopped, travelled and met family, mostly without masks. Mask-wearing is nearly non-existent outside the big cities.

"Even after Diwali, we are not seeing a surge," said MD Gupte, a former director of the state-run National Institute of Epidemiology, attributing it mainly to the presence of antibodies in a huge majority of Indians through natural infection.

"I think we are much safer now."

Government surveys have estimated that nearly 70% of Indians had been naturally infected by July, following a record rise in infections and deaths in April and May.

So far, 81% of India's 944 million adults have received at least one dose of vaccine and 43% have had two doses. Vaccination for people under 18 has not yet begun.

India has reported a total of 34.5 million COVID-19 cases, second only to the tally in the United States. India's COVID deaths rose by 236 in the past 24 hours to 466,147.

Daily testing has also fallen, dipping below 1 million on Monday compared with a capacity of more than 2 million.