India COVID-19 cases set new global record for 4th straight day
26 April, 2021
India set a fresh global record of the very most number of COVID-19 infections per day, as Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday (Apr 25) urged all citizens to be vaccinated and exercise caution, saying the "storm" of infections had shaken the united states.
AMERICA said it had been deeply concerned by the massive surge in coronavirus cases in India and was racing to send aid to India.
India's number of instances surged by 349,691 previously a day, the fourth straight day of record peaks, and hospitals in Delhi and in the united states are turning away patients after running out of medical oxygen and beds.
We were confident, our spirits were up after successfully tackling the first wave, but this storm has shaken the country," Modi said in a radio address.
Modi's government has faced criticism that it let its guard down, allowed big religious and political gatherings to occur when India's cases plummeted to below 10,000 a day and didn't plan on building up the healthcare systems.
Hospitals and doctors have released urgent notices that they were struggling to cope with the rush of patients.
Individuals were arranging stretchers and oxygen cylinders outside hospitals as they desperately pleaded for authorities to take patients in, Reuters photographers said.
"Every day, it the same situation, we are left with two hours of oxygen, we only get assurances from the authorities," one doctor said on television.
Outside a Sikh temple in Ghaziabad city on the outskirts of Delhi the street resembled a crisis ward of a hospital, but cramed with cars carrying COVID-19 patients gasping for breath because they were hooked up to hand held oxygen tanks.
Delhi's Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal extended a lockdown in the administrative centre that was because of end on Monday for weekly to stem the transmission of the virus which is killing one person every four minutes.
"A lockdown was the last weapon we'd to handle the coronavirus but with cases rising so quickly we had to use this weapon," he said.
US READIES HELP
On Sunday, US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken said Washington was sending help.
"Our hearts venture out to the Indian persons in the midst of the horrific COVID-19 outbreak. We will work closely with our partners in the Indian government, and we will rapidly deploy additional support to the persons of India and India's health care heroes," Blinken said on Twitter.
AMERICA has faced criticism in India for its export controls on raw materials for vaccines set up via the Defense Production Act and an associated export embargo in February.
The Serum Institute of India (SII), the world’s biggest vaccine maker, this month urged US President Joe Biden to lift the embargo on US exports of recycleables that's hurting its production of AstraZeneca shots.
Others such as for example US Congressman Raja Krishnamoorthi urged the Biden administration release a unused vaccines to India. "When persons in India and elsewhere desperately need help, we can not let vaccines sit in a warehouse, we need to have them where they'll save lives," he said.
"TWO HOURS OF OXYGEN"
India's total tally of infections stands at 16.96 million and deaths 192,311 after 2,767 more died overnight, health ministry data showed.
In the last month alone, daily cases have risen eight times and deaths by ten times. Health professionals say the death rate is most likely far higher.
A person walks past funeral fires of these who died from COVID-19 at a crematorium in New Delhi, India Apr 24, 2021. (Photo:Reuters/Adnan Abidi)
Individuals were arranging stretchers and oxygen cylinders outside hospitals as they desperately pleaded for authorities to take patients in, Reuters photographers said.
"Each day, it the same situation, we are left with two hours of oxygen, we only get assurances from the authorities," one doctor said on television.
The surge is likely to peak in mid-May with the daily count of infections reaching half a million, the Indian Express said citing an interior government assessment.
V K Paul, a COVID-task force leader, made the presentation during a meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi and state chief ministers and said that medical infrastructure in heavily populated states isn't adequate enough to deal, according to the newspaper.
Paul did not react to a Reuters obtain comment.
Experts said India became complacent in the wintertime, when new cases were running at about 10,000 a day and appeared to be under control. Authorities lifted restrictions, enabling the resumption of big gatherings.
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