India posts record daily COVID-19 deaths, one in four globally last week

World 01:10 PM - 2021-05-05

Photo credit: Reuters

India accounted for nearly half of the COVID-19 cases reported worldwide last week, the World Health Organization said on Wednesday, as the country’s coronavirus deaths rose by a record 3,780 during the last 24 hours.

 

The WHO said in its weekly epidemiological report that India accounted for 46% of global cases and 25% of global deaths reported in the past week.

 

Daily infections in the country rose by 382,315 on Wednesday, health ministry data showed, the 14th straight day of more than 300,000 cases.

 

India's second deadly surge of COVID-19 has seen hospitals runs out of beds and oxygen and left morgues and crematoriums overflowing. Many people have died in ambulances and car parks waiting for a bed or oxygen.

 

Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government has been widely criticised for not acting sooner to suppress the second wave of the virus. Religious festivals and political rallies have attracted tens of thousands of people in super spreader events.

 

"We need a government. Desperately. And we don’t have one. We are running out of air. We are dying..." wrote Indian author Arundhati Roy in an opinion piece published on Tuesday calling for Modi to step down.

 

"This is a crisis of your making. You cannot solve it. You can only make it worse....So please go. It is the most responsible thing for you to do. You have forfeited the moral right to be our prime minister."

 

Two "oxygen express" trains reached the capital Delhi on Wednesday carrying desperately needed liquid oxygen, Minister of Railways Piyush Goyal said on Twitter. More than 25 trains have so far delivered oxygen to different parts of India.

 

India's government says there are enough oxygen supplies but distribution has been hindered by transport problems.

 

A two-judge bench of the Delhi High Court has been holding almost daily video conferences to hear petitions from hospitals seeking oxygen and invoking India’s constitutional right to protection of life.

 

India's surge in infections has coincided with a dramatic drop in vaccinations due to supply and delivery problems.

 

At least three states, including Maharashtra, home to the commercial capital of Mumbai, have reported a scarcity of vaccines, shutting down some inoculation centres.

 

 

 

PUKmedia \ Reuters