OPEN CLOZE (14/05/2021)

Fill in the missing words in the extract below using only ONE suitable word.
A record (1) ________
number of daily deaths has been recorded in India and fears are
burgeoning. On Wednesday, more than 348,421 new infections were reported, with the
(2) ________
estimated number of cases skyrocketing past 23 million, according to health ministry
underestimated
data. However, experts believe the official numbers grossly (3) ________ the real scale
of the epidemic's impact in India and say the number of actual deaths and infections
could be five to 10 times higher. Although India's COVID-19 infection (4) ________ curve /rate may
be showing early signs of flattening, a (5) _______
decline in the number of cases right away is
rather unlikely, Shahid Jameel, a top Indian virologist, said. "It is still too early to say
whether we have reached the peak," he told the Indian Express newspaper. "There is
some indication of the cases plateauing. But we must not forget that this is a very high
plateau.” a period during which there are no large changes

India now (6) ___________

accounts for one in three of the reported deaths from coronavirus
around the world, a situation which (7) ____________
medical staff at hospital as well as
mortuaries and crematories completely overwhelmed. The brutal wave of COVID-19
infections has spread from the cities to small towns and the countryside, ripping
through a fragile health system ill-equipped for a crisis on this (8) ________.
scale The World
Health Organization has also published a report saying that the B.1.617 (9) ________ variant
of
the virus, which was first identified in India, had spread to at least 44 countries.
Currently, efforts to track and analyze it have been (10) ________
stepped
up by the global health
body. to increase the size, amount, or speed of a process in
order to achieve something