Patients suffering from coronavirus disease (COVID-19) receive treatment at the accident department of Lok Nayak Jai Prakash Hospital (LNJP), amid the spread of the disease in New Delhi, India, April 15, 2021. REUTERS / Danish Siddiqui / File Photo
India has reported a record daily increase in coronavirus infections in the past 24 hours, the health ministry said on Sunday, exacerbating the lack of oxygen supplies and hospital beds in some of the country’s most affected cities.
India reported 261,500 new cases, bringing the total number of cases to almost 14.8 million, second only to the United States, which reported more than 31 million infections.
Deaths in India caused by COVID-19 increased by 1,501 to a total of 177,150, the data show.
India, affected by the spread of more contagious variants of the disease, is facing a severe shortage of hospital beds, oxygen supplies and critical medicines, such as the antiviral drug Remdesivir.
Concerned about a sharp rise in coronavirus cases, Prime Minister Narendra Modi last night called on the authorities to stop all stops to increase production of COVID-19 vaccines.
Modi also looked at the overall readiness of his administration and stressed the need to ensure the availability of hospital beds and the supply of oxygen and ventilators. He also called on his team to work closely with local governments, especially the 12 states devastated by a wave of coronavirus cases.
But opposition parties, including the Congress party, criticized Modi for holding large election rallies to help the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) win the state assembly elections in eastern West Bengal.
Addressing a large gathering of his supporters in West Bengal on Saturday, Modi said: “I can see a sea of masses. I have not seen a rally like this.”
The ruling Aam Aadmi (Common Man) party in the capital, New Delhi, has mocked Modi’s political rallies by posting images of funerals on social media at the city’s overcrowded crematoria.
“The delight of the Prime Minister (Prime Minister) at the sight of a large crowd at his election meeting in Asansol (West Bengal) in covide times could have come only from a person who is completely insensitive,” Yashwant Sinha, former Minister of Foreign Affairs. cabinet that broke away from BJP, said on Twitter. – I deplore his remarks.
Stung by the lack of hospital beds and oxygen cylinders, people used Twitter to seek help and post pictures of overwhelmed hospitals.
On Saturday, New Delhi registered 24,000 cases of coronavirus in a 24-hour period, and its chief minister Arvind Kejriwal warned of the chronic shortage of hospital beds.
Separately, last night at least five coronavirus patients died in a hospital fire in Raipur, the capital of the central state of Chhattisgarh.
The rest of the patients were evacuated to other coronavirus facilities, said Tarkeshwar Patel, an additional superintendent of police in Raipur.
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