India has reported more than 300,000 coronavirus cases over the last 24 hours, the highest daily global total, while COVID-19-related deaths also jumped by a record.
India’s daily jump of 314,835 cases surpasses the previous highest one-day rise in the world of 297,430 cases posted by the United States in January.
India’s total cases are now at 15.93 million, the world’s second highest, while deaths rose by 2,104 to reach a total of 184,657, according to health ministry data.
A brutal second wave of coronavirus infections, blamed on a “double mutant” variant and “super-spreader” mass gatherings, in the world’s second-most populous nation has stretched its long-underfunded healthcare system to a breaking point.
A large number of hospitals are reporting acute shortages of beds and medicine and are running on dangerously low levels of oxygen.
At least 24 COVID-19 patients died in western India’s Maharashtra state on Wednesday when the oxygen supply to their ventilators ran out, amid a nationwide shortage of medical oxygen, hospital beds and medicines such as the anti-viral drug, remdesivir.
Health experts say India let its guard down when the virus seemed to be under control during the winter, allowing big gatherings such as weddings and festivals.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi is himself facing criticism for addressing packed political rallies for local elections and allowing a Hindu festival to go ahead where millions gathered.
Modi said in an address to the nation on Tuesday night that “all efforts are being made” to boost supplies of medical oxygen.
‘Beg, borrow or steal’
The Delhi High Court on Wednesday ordered the government to divert oxygen from industrial use to hospitals to save people’s lives.
“We cannot let people die due to lack of oxygen … you beg, borrow and steal but have to provide,” the judges said in response to a petition by a New Delhi hospital seeking its intervention.
The judges asked why the government is “not waking up to the gravity of the situation”, calling it “a national emergency”.
The health ministry said of the country’s total production of 7,500 metric tonnes of oxygen per day, 6,600 metric tonnes were being allocated for medical use.
It also said that 75 railway coaches in the Indian capital have been turned into hospitals providing an additional 1,200 beds for COVID-19 patients.
Meanwhile, major private and government-run hospitals in New Delhi have sent out urgent appeals to the central government, calling for immediate supplies of oxygen for hundreds of patients on ventilator support.
On Wednesday, nearly 500 tonnes of oxygen was supplied to the capital but this fell short of the required 700 tonnes per day.
The city’s government has also accused neighbouring states governed by Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) of holding up supplies.
SOURCE: AL JAZEERA AND NEWS AGENCIES
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