Indian states impose stricter lockdowns as COVID-19 deaths hit record high
09 May, 2021
India on Saturday (May 8) reported its highest ever single-day COVID-19 death toll, as cases continued to go up and states imposed stricter lockdowns.
India's health ministry reported 4,187 fatalities over the past 24 hours, taking the entire death toll close to 240,000. The Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation estimates that India will dsicover 1 million COVID-19 deaths by August.
Cases rose by 401,078 on Saturday, bringing the total since the start of the pandemic to 21.9 million.
Medical experts say the true amounts of COVID-19 cases and fatalities are likely to be far higher than official tallies.
Tamil Nadu, known because of its automobile manufacturing including BMW, Daimler, Hyundai, Ford, Nissan and Renault, said it could move from a partial to a full lockdown on Monday, shutting public transport and state-run alcohol retailers.
Neighbouring Karnataka state extended a complete shutdown late on Friday. The state capital Bengaluru is a major tech hub, home to major offices of companies including Google, Amazon and Cisco.
India is yet to impose a national lockdown since it did during its first wave this past year, but around half of most its states have imposed a complete shutdown. The others are under a partial shutdown.
India's drug regulator on Friday approved for emergency use a fresh drug called 2-deoxy-D-glucose after clinical trials showed it aided the recovery of hospitalised patients and reduced reliance on supplemental oxygen.
The drug was jointly produced by India's state-run Defence Research and Development Organisation and Hyderabad-based Dr Reddy's Laboratories.
Though it's the world's biggest vaccine maker, India is struggling to create and distribute enough doses to stem the wave of COVID-19.
The country has administered a lot more than 167 million vaccine doses but its rate of inoculation has fallen in recent days and only around 2 % of its 1.4 billion persons have received the two doses needed to be fully immunised.
A CRISIS IN THE SOUTH
While cases in the country's northern and western areas have borne the brunt of the pandemic, southern states including Karnataka and Tamil Nadu have seen infections surge.
The next wave of the coronavirus pandemic in India has taken the healthcare system to the brink of collapse, with patients dying because of lack of oxygen or usage of hospital beds.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi has been criticised for his handling of the oxygen shortage, though the government says it is doing all it could.
Medical journal Lancet said within an editorial on Saturday that Modi's attempts to stifle criticism were "inexcusable".
"India must now restructure its response as the crisis rages. The success of this effort will be based upon ... implementing a public health response which has science at its heart."
Tamil Nadu chief minister M K Stalin said in a letter to Modi late on Friday that medical oxygen demand in the state could double in the next two weeks.
"The option of oxygen in Tamil Nadu is quite very critical," Stalin said, adding that 13 patients died in a hospital on the outskirts of Chennai due to the lack of oxygen.
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