Covid surge pushes death toll to 201,000
INDIA’S coronavirus death toll now stands at more than 200,000 lives lost, as a devastating surge of new infections tears through cities and rural areas and leaves healthcare systems on the brink of collapse.
The health ministry reported a single-day record 3,293 Covid-19 deaths in the last 24 hours, bringing India’s total fatalities to 201,187, as the world’s second-most populous country endures its darkest chapter of the pandemic yet.
The country also reported 362,757 new infections, a new global record, which took the overall total past 17.9 million.
The previous high of 350,000 on Monday had capped a five-day streak of recording the largest single-day increases in any country throughout the pandemic.
India, a country of nearly 1.4 billion people, is the fourth to cross 200,000 deaths, behind the United States, Brazil and Mexico.
As in many nations, experts believe the coronavirus infections and fatalities in India are severe undercounts.
Indian officials thought the country had weathered the worst of the pandemic last year, but the virus is now racing through its population and systems are beginning to collapse.
For the past week, more than 2,000 Indians have died every day.
Hospital cases and deaths have reached record highs, overwhelming health care workers, while patients are suffocating because hospitals’ oxygen supplies have run out.
Desperate family members are sending SOS messages on social media, hoping someone would help them find oxygen cylinders, empty hospital beds and critical drugs for their loved ones. Crematoriums have spilled over into car parks, lighting up night skies in some cities.
With its health care system sinking fast, India is now looking at other nations to pull it out of the record surge that is barrelling through one state and then another.
Many countries have offered assistance, including the US, which has promised to help with personal protective equipment, tests and oxygen supplies.
The US will also send raw materials for vaccine production, strengthening India’s capacity to manufacture more AstraZeneca doses.
Health experts say huge gatherings during Hindu festivals and mammoth election rallies in some states have accelerated the unprecedented surge India is seeing now.