India's death toll crosses 200,000; hospitals swamped
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A banquet hall that has been temporarily converted into a Covid-19 care centre in New Delhi yesterday. In the capital, carparks have been converted into crematoriums and the soaring body count has sparked a shortage of wood for funeral pyres. India recorded 360,000 new infections - a global record - and over 3,000 deaths yesterday.
PHOTO: AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE
NEW DELHI • India's coronavirus death toll crossed 200,000 yesterday as a relentless wave of new cases swamped hospitals and sent desperate families out into the streets of the capital in search of oxygen supplies and medicine.
Infection and death rates are soaring in the vast country of 1.3 billion, in contrast with the United States and some European nations taking tentative steps back towards normal life.
The virus has now killed more than 3.1 million people worldwide, with India driving the latest surge, recording 360,000 new infections - a global record - and over 3,000 deaths yesterday.
In the capital New Delhi, carparks have been converted into crematoriums and the soaring body count has sparked a shortage of wood for funeral pyres.
Desperate relatives of patients are crowding outside hospitals and pharmacies in search of treatment and medicines, often in vain.
Arriving in cars, rickshaws and ambulances, patients and their families desperate for oxygen flocked to a tent outside a Sikh place of worship on the outskirts of the capital this week.
Despite the rising cases, around 25,000 people took part in the final bathing day at the Kumbh Mela religious gathering in the northern town of Haridwar on Tuesday, drawn to the banks of the Ganges by an "auspicious" full moon, festival official Harbeer Singh said.
A variant of the virus feared to be contributing to the catastrophic wave in India has now been found in more than a dozen countries, the World Health Organisation said on Tuesday.
Many nations have rushed to help, sending desperately needed oxygen and aid. As part of the global effort, Singapore said yesterday it had sent two planeloads of oxygen supplies.
India also appears to be a leading contender for some of the millions of AstraZeneca vaccine doses the US has said it will export.
Despite the crisis worsening in India and other parts of Asia, the Asian Development Bank yesterday raised its growth forecast for developing countries in the region. China and India are expected to lead the rebound across the vast continent, the lender said, but it cautioned that vaccine roll-outs were lagging.
By the end of last month, developing Asia had administered 5.2 doses per 100 people, it said, trailing the global average of about eight doses per 100.
Meanwhile, in Brazil, which has the highest death toll after the US, the Senate opened an inquiry into the handling of the pandemic by Mr Jair Bolsonaro's government, as fatalities surged to nearly 400,000.
AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE
