A day after India’s daily Covid cases passed the grim four lakh mark in a first, the country saw the deadliest day of the pandemic with 3,689 deaths in the last 24 hours. The Covid caseload surged to 1.95 crore on Sunday morning with 3.92 lakh new cases.
This is the fourth straight day that India has recorded over 3,000 deaths due to Covid.
Hospitals are overburdened and shortage of medical oxygen has emerged as one of the top challenges. The country’s daily Covid cases passed the 1 lakh mark about three weeks ago.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi is holding a meeting this morning to review the measures being taken amid the unprecedented Covid surge. Last month, in an address to nation, he had said the second Covid wave has hit India “like a storm”.
In April, India recorded 66 lakh fresh cases, much higher than 10.25 lakh cases recorded in March, 3.5 lakh cases recorded in February and 4.79 lakh cases recorded in January.
Over 45,000 people died in April alone across the country due to Covid as compared to 5,417 deaths in March, 2,777 deaths in February and 5,536 deaths in January.
Today, counting is being held in Bengal, Assam, Tamil Nadu and Kerala – and Puducherry, a union territory, where voting was held last month in India’s biggest polling exercise since the start of the pandemic. Huge poll rallies have been linked to the Covid surge.
Delhi witnessed another tragedy due to the shortage of medical oxygen when 12 people, including a doctor, died at Batra Hospital on Saturday after the facility ran out of medical oxygen – for the second time in the space of a week.
Lockdown to check the spread of cases has been extended by another week in the national capital, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal said on Saturday.
India launched the third phase of the world’s biggest inoculation drive, extending coverage to 18-44 age group. At least 20 states red-flagged vaccine shortage even as the government said: “1 crore doses are still available with the states”. Over 84,000 people took the Covid shot, as per official figures.
International aid is arriving from the United States and many other nations that have pledged sustained support to India as the country’s healthcare system buckles under pressure of rising cases.
The United States, Australia and Israel have restricted flights from India.
(Source : NDTV )
