COVID-plagued India breaks daily record of infections, deaths as overwhelmed hospitals face collapse
As India struggles with a critical shortage of oxygen and hospital beds, the number of COVID-19 cases and deaths confirmed in a single day across the virus-plagued country continues to break new records.
The world’s most populous nation reported 3,980 deaths and more than 412,000 new infections over a 24-hour period ending Thursday, according to a tally by Johns Hopkins University. The two numbers are the highest India has seen in a single day since the pandemic began.
The densely populated Asian country is scrambling to curb the spread of the virus in recent days, with the number of new cases topping 300,000 every day for nearly two weeks.
The exploding crisis has overwhelmed hospitals, many of which have turned patients away amid a catastrophic shortage of beds, health workers and life-saving supplies, like oxygen.
Meanwhile, Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s administration is under fire over reports that it’s taking too long to distribute supplies donated from other countries and is unwilling to impose strict lockdowns. The government has denied those reports and tried to downplay the critical shortage of supplies.
Officials also said this week that country’s second wave was partly caused by a new deadly variant that has been detected in multiple states.
India’s Supreme Court intervened in the crisis Thursday, ordering the government to immediately provide more medical oxygen to hospitals in the capital, the Associated Press reported. The court became involved after 12 coronavirus patients at New Delhi’s Batra Hospital died when the facility ran out of oxygen for 80 minutes last week.
Overall, the nation of 1.3 billion people has confirmed more than 21 million coronavirus cases — the second most in the world, behind only the U.S. — and at least 230,000 deaths, with the U.S. and Brazil still ahead.
The real figures in India, however, are believed to be much higher due to a lack of testing.
The country’s vaccination rate is also lagging. As of Thursday, about 30 million people, or 2.2% of the country’s population, have been fully vaccinated, according to Johns Hopkins University. The government hoped to have 300 million people vaccinated by July.
