Fire kills 18 virus patients in India
NEW DELHI – A fire in a COVID-19 hospital ward in western India killed 18 patients early Saturday as the country grappling with the worst outbreak yet stepped up a vaccination drive for all adults, even as some states said they don’t have enough vaccines.
India on Saturday set yet another daily global record with 401,993 new cases, taking its total to more than 19.1 million. Another 3,523 people died in the past 24 hours, raising the overall fatalities to 211,853, according to the Health Ministry. Experts believe both figures are an undercount.
The fire broke out in a COVID-19 ward on the ground floor of the Welfare Hospital in Bharuch, a town in Gujarat state, and was extinguished within an hour, police said. The cause is being investigated.
Thirty-one other patients were rescued from the blaze by hospital workers and firefighters and their condition was stable, said police officer B.M Parmar. Late last month, a fire in an intensive care unit killed 13 COVID-19 patients in the Virar area on the outskirts of Mumbai.
India’s government on Saturday shifted its faltering vaccination campaign into high gear by saying all adults 18 and over could get shots. Since January, nearly 10% of Indians have received one dose, but only around 1.5% have received both, although India is one of the world’s biggest producers of vaccines.
Some states have said they don’t have enough doses for everyone, and even the ongoing effort to inoculate people above 45 was sputtering.
The state of Maharashtra has said it won’t be able to start the expanded vaccinations Saturday. The health minister for the capital New Delhi, Satyender Jain, said earlier this week that the city doesn’t have enough doses to vaccinate people between the ages of 18 and 44.
India’s capital also extended its week-old lockdown by another week to curb the surge in virus cases, tweeted Arvind Kejriwal, a top elected official.
All shops and factories were to remain closed until May 9, except for those that provide essential services such as grocery stores. People are not supposed to leave their homes, except for a handful of reasons like seeking medical care or going to the airport or railroad stations. Daily wage earners and small businesses are expected to suffer a further blow to their livelihoods.
Separately, 12 COVID-19 patients, including a doctor, died Saturday at a hospital in New Delhi after its supply of oxygen ran out for 80 minutes, said S.C.L. Gupta, director of Batra Hospital.
Gupta said the hospital has been facing irregular oxygen supply from manufacturers for more than a week, but it exhausted it completely for the first time.
He said the hospital tank was refilled with enough oxygen for 12 hours and it will again be looking for replenishment.
Faced with an unprecedented COVID-19 surge that has filled hospitals and then crematoriums, Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government described the pandemic as a “once-in-acentury crisis.” Modi held a Cabinet meeting Friday that discussed steps to prop up the country’s health system.