“India makes history again!” Modi said in a tweet. The prime minister has faced accusations from the opposition of mishandling the pandemic which experts claim has killed millions. The government denies the allegations. Health ministry figures put the death toll from Covid at 525,709, with 49 deaths recorded overnight. New cases rose by 20,528 in the past 24 hours, the highest since February 20, according to data compiled by Reuters. The country of 1.35 billion people has lifted most Covid-related restrictions and international travel has rebounded strongly. About 80% of the vaccinations were the domestically produced AstraZeneca vaccine, called Covishield. Others include domestically developed Covaxin and Corbevax and Russia’s Sputnik V. The federal government has stepped up its reinforcement campaign to prevent infections from spreading, ramping up in the eastern states of Assam, West Bengal and Karnataka in the south.
