Hospitals full as Delhi grapples with Covid

new delhi — India’s coronavirus caseload passed nine million on Friday, as hospitals in the capital New Delhi came under increasing pressure and graveyards began to fill up.

The world’s secondworst-hit country has now also registered more than 132,000 deaths from the disease, according to the latest official figures, which are widely seen as understating the true scale of infection.

India has seen a drop in daily cases over the past month but it is still registering about 45,000 new instances on average every day.

New Delhi, facing the dual scourge of winter pollution and coronavirus, has seen infections soar past half a million with a record rise in daily cases.

At one of Delhi’s largest cemeteries, burial space is fast running out, gravedigger Mohammed Shamim said.

“Initially when the virus broke (out), I thought I’ll bury 100-200 people and it’ll be done. But the current situation is beyond my wildest thoughts,” Shamim said.

“I only have space left for about

50-60 burials. Then what? I have no idea.” Experts say this has helped spread the disease, as has a general reluctance to wear masks and maintain physical distancing. But those restrictions are now coming back.

Authorities in the western city of Ahmedabad, have imposed a complete curfew over the weekend. “The increase in numbers of cases is a concern, primarily because it is driven by people not following the basic protocol of corona-appropriate behaviour,” said Anand Krishnan, a community medicine professor at Delhi’s All India Institute of Medical Sciences.

Hemant Shewade, a Bangalore-based community medicine expert, said it was likely cases outside major towns and cities were not being taken into account in the official numbers. “My guess is that it is spreading slowly and silently in rural areas,” Shewade said.

In Delhi, the spectre of the virus wreaking havoc has come back to haunt its 20 million residents, as families scramble to arrange hospital beds.

Over 90 per cent of intensive care beds with ventilators were occupied as of Thursday, a government mobile app showed. —