Sachin Tendulkar: India cricket legend in hospital with Covid-19

Sachin Tendulkar said he was experiencing mild symptoms after testing positive for Covid-19, Photo- Getty Image

BBC
02 Apr, 2021

London, Apr. 2: Indian cricket legend Sachin Tendulkar, who tested positive for Covid-19 last week, has been admitted to the hospital. Tendulkar tweeted on Friday that he decided to go to a hospital in Mumbai "as a matter of abundant precaution under medical advice".

The former captain, who is loved by millions, added that he was hoping to be back home in a few days. Several Indian cities, including Mumbai, have seen a sharp rise in Covid-19 cases in the past few weeks.

Tendulkar, 47, shared the news at a time when India is staring at what experts have called a "deadlier second wave". India reported 81,466 news cases and 469 deaths on Thursday - the highest daily spike since December.

The country's Covid caseload had dropped sharply in January when it was reporting less than 15,000 cases daily. But cases began to spike again in March, largely driven by poor test-and-trace and lax safety protocols.

Many of the new cases were reported in the western state of Maharashtra, where Tendulkar lives in the city of Mumbai.

Since the pandemic began, India has confirmed more than 12.2 million cases and over 163,000 deaths. It's the third-highest number of Covid-19 infections in the world after the United States and Brazil.

More than 65 million doses have been given to people since India launched its vaccination drive in January. But experts say the pace needs to further pick up to halt the spread.

Some have also attributed the uptick in numbers to a highly contagious variant of the coronavirus, but the government has denied this.

The surge in cases comes during what some experts have called a "delicate phase" of the pandemic for India. States are now reintroducing restrictions to stem the spread of the virus.