India sets a new record of 386,000 daily COVID-19 cases

Indian scientists have appealed to Prime Minister Narendra Modi to publicly release virus data that would allow them to save lives as COVID-19 cases continue to climb.

It comes as the country has posted another record daily increase in cases, with over 386,000 reported on Friday.

The Health Ministry on Friday also reported 3,498 deaths in the last 24 hours, bringing the total to 208,330.

Experts believe both figures are an undercount, but it’s unclear by how much.

The latest spike in cases is prompting the army to open its hospitals in a desperate bid to stem the rising tide of a massive humanitarian crisis.

India’s pandemic response has been marred by insufficient data, and the online appeal — signed by over 350 scientists — asks the government to release data about the sequencing of virus variants, testing, recovered patients and how people were responding to vaccines.