NEW DELHI — India's toll from the coronavirus surged past
200,000 on Wednesday, the country's deadliest day yet, as shortages of oxygen,
medical supplies and hospital staff compounded a record number of new
infections.
اضافة اعلان
The second wave of infections has seen at least 300,000
people test positive each day for the past week, overwhelming healthcare
facilities and crematoriums and driving an increasingly urgent international
response.
The last 24 hours brought 360,960 new cases for the world's
largest single-day total, taking India's tally of infections to nearly 18
million. It was also the deadliest day so far, with 3,293 fatalities carrying
the toll to 201,187.
Experts believe the official tally vastly underestimates the
actual toll in a nation of 1.3 billion, however.
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 (
IFRC).
"This is both an ethical and public health
imperative," he added. "As variants keep spreading, this pandemic is
far from over until the whole world is safe."
Ambulances lined up for hours in the capital, New Delhi, to
take
COVID-19 victims to makeshift crematorium facilities in parks and parking
lots, where bodies burned on rows of funeral pyres.
Coronavirus sufferers, many struggling for breath, flocked
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 step up supplies.
"We spend the day lowering oxygen levels on our
ventilators and other devices as our tanks show alarmingly dipping
levels," Dr Devlina Chakravarty, of the Artemis hospital in the suburb of
Gurgaon, wrote in the Times of India newspaper.
"We make hundreds of calls and send messages every day
to get our daily quota of oxygen."
The Mayom Hospital nearby has stopped new admissions unless
patients brought oxygen cylinders or concentrators with them, its chief
executive, Manish Prakash, told television channel
NDTV.
Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal said people were
falling sick more severely and for longer, stacking up the pressure.
"The current wave is particularly dangerous," he
said.
"It 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 incoming
Supplies arriving in New Delhi included ventilators and
oxygen concentrators from Britain, with more sent from Australia, Germany and
Ireland.
"First shipment of oxygen generators from #Taiwan to
#India is leaving this week," Kolas Yotaka, a spokeswoman for Taiwan
President Tsai Ing-wen, said on Twitter. "We are all in this
together."
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau committed $10
million, adding on Twitter, "We stand ready to donate extra medical
supplies, too."
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
ratios of vaccination, it added.
Epidemiologist Bhramar Mukherjee called for much larger
lockdowns.
"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 lock down and vaccinate."
US President Joe Biden said he had spoken at length with
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on issues such as when the United States
would be able to ship vaccines to the South Asian nation, and added that it was
his clear intention to do so.
"I think we'll be in a position to be able to share,
share vaccines, as well as know-how, with other countries who are in real need.
That's the hope and expectation," he told reporters at the White House on
Tuesday.
The US State Department's coordinator for global COVID-19
response, Gayle Smith, warned that India's challenge called for a sustained
effort: "We all need to understand that we are still at the front end of
this. This hasn't peaked yet."
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