No relief from Covid-19 for India as death toll exceeds 200,000
More than 200,000 people have died from Covid-19 in India since the coronavirus pandemic began after a day of record deaths, while infection levels leave hospitals short of staff, beds and oxygen.
At least 300,000 people have tested positive every day for the past week, overwhelming hospitals and crematoriums and fuelling an increasingly urgent international response.
Yesterday, 360,960 new cases were reported, the world’s largest single-day total so far, taking India’s tally of infections to nearly 18 million.
It was also the deadliest day so far, with 3,293 deaths taking the toll to 201,187.
Analysts believe the official tally underestimates the death toll in the country of 1.35 billion people.
The world is entering a critical phase of the pandemic and needs to have vaccinations available for all adults as soon as possible, said Udaya Regmi, South Asia head of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies.
“This is both an ethical and public health imperative,” he said.
“As variants keep spreading, this pandemic is far from over.”
Ambulances lined up for hours in the capital, New Delhi, to take the bodies of Covid-19 victims to makeshift crematoriums in parks and parking spaces, where bodies burned on rows of pyres.
Covid-19 patients, many struggling for breath, went to a Sikh temple on the city’s outskirts, hoping to secure some of its limited supplies of oxygen.
Hospitals in and around the capital said oxygen remained scarce, despite commitments to increase supplies.
“We make hundreds of calls and send messages every day to get our daily quota of oxygen,” Dr Devlina Chakravarty, of the Artemis Hospital in the suburb of Gurgaon, wrote in The Times of India.
The Mayom Hospital near by has stopped admissions unless patients brought oxygen cylinders or concentrators with them, chief executive Manish Prakash told television channel NDTV.
Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal said people were falling sick more severely and for longer, increasing the pressure.
“The virus is supremely contagious and those who are contracting it are not able to recover as swiftly.
“In these conditions, intensive care wards are in great demand.”
Supplies arriving in New Delhi included ventilators and oxygen concentrators from Britain, with more sent from Australia, Germany and Ireland, while Singapore and Russia pledged oxygen cylinders and medical supplies.
“First shipment of oxygen generators from Taiwan to India is leaving this week,” Kolas Yotaka, a spokeswoman for Taiwanese President Tsai Ingwen, said on Twitter. “We are all in this together.”
Canada committed C$10 million ($8.1m).
“We stand ready to donate extra medical supplies, too,” Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said on Twitter.
Credit rating agency S&P Global said India’s second wave of infections could impede its economic recovery and expose other nations to further waves of outbreaks.
The Asia-Pacific region, in particular, was susceptible to contagion from the highly infectious variants in India, given the region’s low rates of vaccination, it said.
Technology companies in the southern city of Bengaluru and elsewhere set up “war rooms” as they looked for oxygen, medicine and hospital beds for infected workers and tried to maintain backroom operations for the world’s biggest financial companies.
Epidemiologist Bhramar Mukherjee called for much larger lockdowns to slow the spread.
“At this point, lives are so much more important than livelihoods,” the University of Michigan professor said on Twitter.
“Provide assistance to the poor, but please lockdown and vaccinate.”
Vaccinations in a national campaign begun in January have averaged about 2.8 million doses a day since an April 5 peak of 4.5 million, government data showed.
More than 121 million people have received at least one dose, or about 9 per cent of the population.
Yesterday, India was to begin allowing everyone aged 18 or more to register for vaccination, starting from May 1. About 800 million were estimated to become eligible.