Skip to content
Search

Latest Stories

India's daily Covid-19 cases decline, but WHO expert says positive tests still high

India's daily Covid-19 cases decline, but WHO expert says positive tests still high

INDIA reported a further decline in new coronavirus cases on Monday (17), but daily deaths remained above 4,000 and experts said the count was unreliable due to a lack of testing in rural areas where the virus is spreading fast.

For months now, nowhere in the world has been hit harder than India by the pandemic, as a new strain of the virus fuelled a surge in infections that has risen to more than 400,000 daily.


Even with a downturn over the past few days, experts said there was no certainty that infections had peaked, with alarm growing both at home and abroad over the highly contagious B.1.617 variant first found in India.

"There are still many parts of the country which have not yet experienced the peak, they are still going up," World Health Organization's chief scientist Soumya Swaminathan was quoted as saying in the Hindu newspaper.

Swaminathan pointed to the "very high" national positivity rate, at about 20 per cent of tests conducted, as a sign that there could be worse to come.

"Testing is still inadequate in a large number of states. And when you see high test positivity rates, clearly we are not testing enough.

"And so the absolute numbers actually don't mean anything when they are taken just by themselves; they have to be taken in the context of how much testing is done, and test positivity rate."

Having begun to decline last week, new infections over the past 24 hours were put at 281,386 by the health ministry on Monday (17), dropping below 300,000 for the first time since April 21. The daily death count stood at 4,106.

At the current rate India's total caseload since the pandemic struck a year ago should pass the 25 million mark in the next couple of days. Total deaths were put at 274,390.

It is widely accepted that the official figures grossly underestimate the real impact of the second wave, with some experts saying actual infections and deaths could be five to 10 times higher.

Rural India hit

Whereas the first wave of the epidemic in India, which peaked in September, was largely concentrated in urban areas, where testing was introduced faster, the second wave that erupted in February is rampaging through rural towns and villages, where about two-thirds of the country's 1.35 billion people live, and testing in those places is very patchy.

"This drop in confirmed Covid cases in India is an illusion," S. Vincent Rajkumar, a professor of medicine at the Mayo Clinic in the United States, said on Twitter.

"First, due to limited testing, the total number of cases is a huge underestimate. Second, confirmed cases can only occur where you can confirm: the urban areas. Rural areas are not getting counted."

While lockdowns have helped limit cases in parts of the country hit during an initial surge of infections in February and April, such as Maharashtra and Delhi, rural areas and some states are dealing with fresh surges.

The government issued detailed guidelines on Sunday (16) for monitoring Covid-19 cases, with the health ministry asking villages to look out for people with flu-like illness and get them tested for Covid-19.

Modi has come under fire for his messaging to the public, a decision to leave key decisions on lockdowns to states, and the slow rollout of an immunisation campaign in the world's biggest vaccine producer.

India has fully vaccinated just over 40.4 million people, or 2.9 per cent of its population.

More For You

menstruation

The findings come from a UK survey of more than 12,000 women

iStock

Heavier bleeding and iron loss linked to long Covid in women, study finds

Highlights:

  • Survey of more than 12,000 UK women finds heavier, longer periods linked to long Covid
  • Symptom severity rises and falls across the menstrual cycle, worsening during periods
  • Tests reveal inflammation in womb lining and hormonal changes, but no damage to ovaries
  • Iron deficiency risk may exacerbate fatigue, dizziness and other common long Covid symptoms

Study highlights link between long Covid and menstrual changes

Women with long Covid are more likely to experience longer and heavier periods, putting them at increased risk of iron deficiency, researchers have found. The findings come from a UK survey of more than 12,000 women, which also showed that the severity of long Covid symptoms fluctuated across the menstrual cycle and often worsened during menstruation.

Findings from UK survey

Between March and May 2021, 12,187 women completed an online survey. Of these, more than 1,000 had long Covid, over 1,700 had recovered from the virus, and 9,400 had never tested positive. The study revealed that women with long Covid reported heavier and longer periods, as well as more frequent bleeding between cycles, compared with other groups.

Keep ReadingShow less
World Curry Festival 2025

The discovery coincides with Bradford’s City of Culture celebrations

World Curry Festival

Bradford’s first curry house traced back to 1942 ahead of World Curry Festival

Highlights:

  • Research for the World Curry Festival uncovered evidence of a curry house in Bradford in 1942.
  • Cafe Nasim, later called The Bengal Restaurant, is thought to be the city’s first.
  • The discovery coincides with Bradford’s City of Culture celebrations.
  • Festival events will include theatre, lectures, and a street food market.

Historic discovery in Bradford’s food heritage

Bradford’s claim as the curry capital of Britain has gained new historical depth. Organisers of the World Curry Festival have uncovered evidence that the city’s first curry house opened in 1942.

Documents revealed that Cafe Nasim, later renamed The Bengal Restaurant, once stood on the site of the current Kashmir Restaurant on Morley Street. Researcher David Pendleton identified an advert for the cafe in the Yorkshire Observer dated December 1942, describing it as “Bradford’s First Indian Restaurant”.

Keep ReadingShow less
​Dilemmas of dating in a digital world

We are living faster than ever before

AMG

​Dilemmas of dating in a digital world

Shiveena Haque

Finding romance today feels like trying to align stars in a night sky that refuses to stay still

When was the last time you stumbled into a conversation that made your heart skip? Or exchanged a sweet beginning to a love story - organically, without the buffer of screens, swipes, or curated profiles? In 2025, those moments feel rarer, swallowed up by the quickening pace of life.

Keep ReadingShow less
sugary drinks and ice cream

Researchers from the UK and US analysed data from American households between 2004 and 2019

iStock

Global warming may drive higher consumption of sugary drinks and ice cream, study warns

Highlights:

  • Hotter days linked to greater intake of sugary drinks and frozen desserts
  • Lower-income households most affected, research finds
  • Climate change could worsen health risks linked to sugar consumption
  • Study based on 15 years of US household food purchasing data

Sugary consumption rising with heat

People are more likely to consume sugary drinks and ice cream on warmer days, particularly in lower-income households, according to new research. The study warns that climate change could intensify this trend, adding to health risks as global temperatures continue to rise.

Sugar consumption is a major contributor to obesity, diabetes, and cardiovascular disease, and has surged worldwide in recent decades. The findings, published in Nature Climate Change, suggest that rising heat could be nudging more people towards high-sugar products such as soda, juice and ice cream.

Keep ReadingShow less
Camellia Panjabi's cookbook elevates
vegetables from sides to stars

Camellia Panjabi (Photo: Ursula Sierek)

Camellia Panjabi's cookbook elevates vegetables from sides to stars

RESTAURATEUR and writer Camellia Panjabi puts the spotlight on vegetables in her new book, as she said they were never given the status of a “hero” in the way fish, chicken or prawns are.

Panjabi’s Vegetables: The Indian Way features more than 120 recipes, with notes on nutrition, Ayurvedic insights and cooking methods that support digestion.

Keep ReadingShow less