India has recorded the world’s highest daily Covid-19 death toll after a local state revised the numbers to account for people who succumbed to the disease at home or in private hospitals.
The Nitish Kumar government announced that the health department of Bihar, East India, revised its total virus related death toll on Wednesday to more than 9,400 from about 5,400.
This is the highest in the world, surpassing the United States which had recorded 5,444 deaths on February 12.
India’s total virus case load now stands at 29.2 million after rising by 94,052 in the past 24 hours.
Total fatalities are at 359,676, according to data from the health ministry.
Despite the high case numbers India has started lifting restrictions in some areas.
Delhi, the capital, and Mumbai have started reopening but others including Kerala Tamil Nadu, Telangana and Rajasthan extended their lockdowns until the middle or end of this week, according to Reuters.
Hospitality sectors are also opening their doors again but in phases to avoid a spike in infections.
The Delhi metro resumed operations on Monday at half its capacity while the city’s shops are taking it in turns to open - opening on alternate days to limit crowding.
So far India has administered more than 230 million jabs of a Covid vaccine but less than four per cent of its 1.4 billion people has been fully vaccinated.
