- Title: India prays for Bollywood's Bachchans to recover from COVID-19
- Date: 13th July 2020
- Summary: CANNES, FRANCE (FILE - MAY 19, 2013) (REUTERS) ***WARNING: CONTAINS FLASH PHOTOGRAPHY*** AISHWARYA RAI BACHCHAN POSING AND WAVING TO PHOTOGRAPHERS
- Embargoed: 27th July 2020 17:14
- Keywords: Abhishek Bachchan Aishwarya Rai Bachchan Amitabh Bachchan India Mumbai coronavirus health pandemic prayers
- Location: VARIOUS, INDIA / CANNES, FRANCE
- City: VARIOUS, INDIA / CANNES, FRANCE
- Country: India
- Topics: Arts / Culture / Entertainment,Health/Medicine
- Reuters ID: LVA003CMN5KXZ
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: Fans across India have been praying on Sunday (July 12) for Bollywood legend Amitabh Bachchan and others members of his family who have fallen sick with coronavirus, as the rise in cases hit a new record.
Bachchan, 77, and his son, Abhishek, remained in hospital in Mumbai while daughter-in-law and former Miss World Aishwarya Rai Bachchan and his eight-year-old granddaughter, who also tested positive, quarantined at home.
The Bachchans are the most high profile Indian family to have contracted the virus in the country, which is spreading faster after a months-long lockdown was eased at the end of May to revive a battered economy.
Special prayers were offered on Sunday (July 12) in India's northern Kanpur and Prayagraj cities by fans praying for the recovery of an actor adored and respected for a career spanning decades.
There was no update from the family or hospital by mid-afternoon on Monday (July 13), but health officials had said on Sunday the father and son were stable.
Some people, however, said the Bachchans were privileged to have got top-class treatment immediately while many others struggled with a shortage of hospital beds, medics and medicines in major cities.
India, along with the United States and Brazil, tops the global caseload of infections. It declared an early lockdown of its 1.3 billion people in March but it has not been able to flatten the curve yet.
Cases of COVID-19 shot past 878,000 with a record 28,701 new infections reported on Monday (July 13), even as parts of the country went into fresh lockdown.
India appears to have fared far better than many places in terms of the ratio of deaths to cases, with the official toll put at 23,174, but some independent observers believe the figures are unreliable as people who die with symptoms are not counted as victims unless they have been tested.
(Production: Matthew Stock, Bharati Naik) - Copyright Holder: FILE REUTERS (CAN SELL)
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