Brazil, India now seen as worst COVID-19 hot spots

COVID-19 data points to Brazil and India as the current worst hot spots for the virus, as both set records this week for the number of cases or deaths confirmed in a single day. 

Brazil, where the P.1 coronavirus variant has taken hold, saw its highest death toll since the beginning of the pandemic on Tuesday with 4,195 fatalities after previously breaking the record for deaths every week since March 11, according to Our World in Data.  

The seven-day average for deaths in Brazil reached 2,751 as of Wednesday. 

Cases in the South American country reached their second-highest level on Wednesday with more than 92,000, behind just the 100,000 counted on March 25. The seven-day average for cases in Brazil has reached more than 64,000, a drop from one of 77,000 recorded in March.

Officials in the city of São Paulo report adding 600 new graves to municipal cemeteries every day, according to The Washington Post. Brazil has also confirmed its first case with the more contagious strain originally found in South Africa.  

On Wednesday, India broke its record for the number of COVID-19 cases confirmed in a day, reaching more than 126,000, with a seven-day average of more than 100,000 cases. India is also experiencing a rise in deaths since the beginning of March, documenting 630 on Wednesday, with a seven-day average of 562.

Both nations have picked up their vaccination rates, with more than 90 million doses getting administered in India and more than 24 million doses in Brazil. The seven-day averages for vaccination rates are 3.58 million per day in India and 720,000 per day in Brazil. 

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi was given his second dose of a COVID-19 vaccine on Thursday.

Got my second dose of the COVID-19 vaccine at AIIMS today.

Vaccination is among the few ways we have, to defeat the virus.

If you are eligible for the vaccine, get your shot soon. Register on https://t.co/hXdLpmaYSP. pic.twitter.com/XZzv6ULdan

— Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) April 8, 2021

Brazil has documented the second-most COVID-19 cases and deaths of any country behind the U.S., with more than 13 million and 340,000, respectively. India ranks third in the number of cumulative cases at 12.9 million and fourth for its death toll of more than 166,000, according to Johns Hopkins University.