Modi warns of virus spreading

Variant found in Americas, though US eases mask rules on progress

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has warned people to take extra precautions as the country's devastating coronavirus outbreak is spreading fast to rural areas where nearly two-thirds of India's nearly 1.4 billion people live.

Modi, during a speech at a farmers' convention in New Delhi on Friday, urged people living in rural areas, village councils and state governments to come together to meet the challenge. Modi said the army, navy and the air force have joined the fight against the pandemic in the country.

"We have lost a lot of near ones. I am feeling the pain people are suffering," Modi said.

His speech came as the number of recorded COVID-19 infections in India climbed above 24 million on Friday amid reports that the highly transmissible coronavirus mutant first detected in the country was spreading across the globe.

The B.1.617 variant of the coronavirus has been found in cases in eight countries of the Americas, including Canada and the United States, said Jairo Mendez, an infectious diseases expert from the World Health Organization.

People infected by the variant included travelers in Panama and Argentina who had arrived from India or Europe. In the Caribbean, cases of the variant have been detected in Aruba, Dutch St Maarten and the French department of Guadeloupe.

The mutant strain has also been detected in the United Kingdom, as well as in Singapore.

"These variants have a greater capacity for transmission, but so far we have not found any collateral consequences," Mendez said. "The only worry is that they spread faster."

Meanwhile, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Thursday said it was lifting mask-wearing guidance for people who are fully vaccinated against COVID-19, a watershed moment that President Joe Biden called "a great day" in the long pandemic fight.

Abrupt turnaround

It marked an abrupt turnaround after more than a year of urging people to cover their faces to stem the spread.

In an emotional address from the White House, Biden declared a major victory in the battle against the virus that has seen more than 580,000 people die in the country.

"I think it's a great milestone, a great day," he said.

The move sparked joyful reactions in some, but others experienced whiplash and said they would continue to wear their masks out of caution.

"I'm still going to wear a mask inside," said Mubarak Dahir, a 57-year-old tourist in the capital Washington who was visiting from Florida.

"I think it's premature. It's a little dangerous to believe that we are that far already."

So far, the pandemic has killed 3,325,260 people worldwide since the virus first emerged in late 2019, according to data of the WHO.

Infections are heading down in many parts of the world but still surging in hotspots like Brazil and India, where the death toll has topped 250,000.

According to Health Ministry data on Friday, India recorded 4,000 deaths and 343,144 infections in the latest 24-hour period. It was the third consecutive day of 4,000 or more deaths but daily infections have stayed below a peak of 414,188 in the first week of May.

Bhramar Mukherjee, a professor of epidemiology at the University of Michigan, said most models were predicting a peak in the week just ended and that the country could be seeing signs of that trend.

Daily new cases have risen 60-fold since April 1 in neighboring Nepal, which has been ravaged by a second wave of COVID-19. There is an increasing demand for oxygen concentrators, oxygen cylinders and pulse oximeters in particular.

Samir Kumar Adhikari, chief of the Health Ministry's Heath Emergency Operation Center, said the country is now in a "crisis situation".

"If even 20 percent of the thousands in home isolation require hospital beds and care, it might reach a point where we will not be able to handle it," he said.

Agencies, Minlu Zhang in New York and Xinhua contributed to this story.