India’s virus death toll tops 200,000 as essential supplies run short
India’s death toll from COVID19 crossed the grim milestone of 200,000 on Wednesday, as the country ran out of oxygen and other essential supplies, prompting some countries to send aid.
Meanwhile, many Indians faced problems registering online for a new round of vaccinations. Supplies in some places ran out.
In the last 24 hours, the Health Ministry recorded 3,293 deaths related to a coronavirus infection, bringing the total tally to 201,187.
At the same time, 362,567 new infections were reported in the highest single-day surge worldwide for seven days straight, taking India’s total caseload to 17.9 million.
India ranks second behind the United States’ 32.1 million cases, while its death toll is fourth behind the U.S., Brazil and Mexico, which have all crossed the 200,000 mark.
But, with around 300,000 cases and 3,000 deaths recorded per day, India is likely to cross more bleak milestones in the future.
Ten states in the world’s second-most populous country account for 74% of cases, including the worst-hit areas of Maharashtra and New Delhi.
The capital and other affected areas are under lockdown, as infections have overburdened health care systems and funeral sites.
Shortages of beds and medical oxygen have been blamed for dozens of deaths countrywide. Video footage showed relatives of patients outside hospitals pleading for help, or angered by the limits of medical care.
The Mayom Hospital in Delhi’s suburb of Gurugram asked patients’ relatives to procure oxygen cylinders themselves, as its supplies would not last long.
“If this happened last year when the pandemic began, we would have understood it as a lack of preparedness. But the government is not doing anything. We are fighting a war without weapons ... the lack of oxygen might kill my father,” a man who identified himself as Siddharth told broadcaster NDTV.
“My father is in the ICU [intensive care unit]. Anyone who has oxygen cylinders, please, please rush here and help us out or he will die,” another woman told NDTV and other news outlets.
COVID-19 patients also gathered inside a tent in the city of Ghaziabad near Delhi, where a nonprofit administered oxygen to them.
Leaders from around the world responded to the images of distress.
Moscow will send 22 tons of aid to India, the government said after a phone call between Russian President Vladimir Putin and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Putin pledged to fly 75 ventilators, 20 plants for generating oxygen and 200,000 packs of medicine to India by the end of the day.