India faced a record rise in COVID-19 cases on Friday as hospitals ran out of oxygen and beds, while politicians held election rallies and hundreds of thousands of Hindu followers attended a week-long festival in anger health officials.
A second massive wave of infections, second only to the United States in total, has forced authorities to restrict the movement of people to Mumbai, New Delhi and other cities amid growing demand for faster vaccination launches.
The 217,353 new cases reported on Friday by the Ministry of Health marked the eighth record daily increase in the last nine days and brought the total number of cases to almost 14.3 million.
The United States has reported more than 31 million infections.
Deaths in India have risen by 1,185 in the past 24 hours – the largest increase in a single day in seven months – to a total of 174,308.
Experts have expressed concern about the spread of more contagious variants of the disease, especially given the large-scale participation in religious festivals and political rallies. A study released this month estimated that daily deaths in India could double by June.
Hundreds of thousands of ascetics and devout Hindus were gathered along the banks of the Ganges in northern Uttarakhand after a mass bath during a religious festival on Wednesday, hoping to wash away their sins. Hundreds gave positive results.
In the capital Delhi, cases reached a record 16,699 overnight.
“It seems that more young people have serious illnesses,” said Giridhara Babu, a professor of epidemiology at the Indian Institute of Public Health.
Health Minister Harsh Vardhan has once again accused a “random approach” to the unprecedented increase in cases, although his colleagues in Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s ruling party were still addressing the election rallies attended by tens of thousands. evidence of masks or social distancing.
Interior Minister Amit Shah, whose department oversees the blockade and other COVID rules, staged a show in an open vehicle on a crowded street demanding votes in West Bengal.
Thousands of farmers who have been protesting in the capital against the new agricultural laws for months have vowed to continue their sites non-stop. Read more
“The speed with which the virus is spreading in our region (South Asia) is really frightening,” said Udaya Regmi of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies.
VACCINE PROGRAM
The government has said it will supply about 17,000 tonnes of oxygen to a dozen countries where the virus is growing, including western Maharashtra and Delhi.
Supply of the antiviral drug Remdesivir is also intensified after reports of a widespread shortage. Read more
India has so far injected 117 million doses of the vaccine, the largest globally after the United States and China, but it covers only a small part of the 1.35 billion people.
Vaccinations reached a maximum of 4.5 million doses on April 5, but averaged about 3 million a day, according to government data, amid complaints about the lack of states. Read more
India has switched from mass vaccine exports to importers, having earlier refused foreign drug manufacturers such as Pfizer (PFE.N). It will import the Russian Sputnik V vaccine starting this month to cover up to 125 million people. Read more
India on Thursday approved the Haffkine Institute in Maharashtra to start production of COVAXIN photos from Bharat Biotech and said its production capacity would be increased to almost 100 million doses by September.
The country currently administers the COVAXIN and AstraZeneca (AZN.L) vaccine, which is manufactured by the Indian Serum Institute and the Covishield brand.
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