The authorities of this Asian giant announced, on Saturday, that India had vaccinated ten million people against Covid-19 in one day, a record number, and it is trying to confront a new wave of the epidemic that it announced.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi hailed the “unforgettable achievement” on Friday of this country of 1.3 billion people, the world’s second most populous. “Congratulations to those who were vaccinated and to those who succeeded in this vaccination campaign,” he replied on Twitter.

The Indian government, which is under fire after a sharp escalation of the epidemic that killed more than 200,000 people in April and May, hopes to vaccinate 1.1 billion people by the end of 2021, a goal thwarted by shortages and administrative jargon. Since vaccination began in January, only 15% of the population has received two doses of the vaccine.

Despite warnings from experts, nearly all restrictions on movement have been lifted and the number of pollution cases has risen dramatically since last June’s wave, saturating health infrastructure.

The number of new daily infections rose again above the 40,000 threshold to 46,000 on Saturday.

India remains the second hardest-hit country after the United States, with more than 32 million confirmed cases and more than 437,000 deaths.