New Delhi (AP) — India recorded the highest daily pandemic deaths in the world on Wednesday as coronavirus infections continued to spread to vast rural areas with weak health care systems.

The Ministry of Health has reported 4,529 deaths in the last 24 hours, driving India’s confirmed deaths to 283,248. In addition, 267,334 new infections were reported as the number of cases per day fell below 300,000 for the third consecutive day. The numbers are arguably underestimated.

According to data from Johns Hopkins University, the previous record of most daily deaths from the coronavirus was set on January 12, when 4,475 people died.

With over 25 million cases, India has the second highest number of confirmed infectious diseases after the United States.

Experts say the country’s surge in new cases may have finally leveled off, although it’s on a plateau where about 340,000 cases were confirmed daily last week. However, deaths continue to increase and hospitals are still crowded with patients. Last month, the number of deaths from COVID-19 in India surged six-fold.

Large cities such as Mumbai and New Delhi have shown signs of improvement in recent years, but there are concerns that the virus is spreading in the vast countryside where the majority of people live and have limited medical care and testing. I am.

In Uttar Pradesh, India’s most populous state of 200 million people, the situation is particularly alarming, and a court on Monday said citizens were left to “God’s mercy.” Despite the decline in new cases over the past week, more than 136,000 active infections continue to be identified in the state.

Government officials are competing to limit the spread of the virus in state villages. The team reached about 90,000 villages and the virus was detected in about 21,000 villages, Indian news agency Pretrust said senior health official Amit Mohamprasad said.

Health experts say the true range of the virus is difficult to measure due to weak data, in part, and the government’s response is too slow.

“The national story hides what was happening in the Indian countryside, which remains fairly invisible,” said Murad Banaji, a mathematician who modeled the Indian case.

India’s vaccination drive is also waning just at the time it is most needed. The number of doses per day has dropped by about half in the last six weeks, from a high of 4 million daily on April 2 to less than 2 million this week.

Many states say they don’t have enough vaccine to administer.