India Logs Record Jump In Virus Infections
Mohammad Ali (@ChaudhryMAli88) Published April 22, 2021 | 01:12 PM
India on Thursday posted a global record for the number of coronavirus cases in a day, as US President Joe Biden hailed his government's "stunning" vaccination drive
New Delhi, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 22nd Apr, 2021 ) :India on Thursday posted a global record for the number of coronavirus cases in a day, as US President Joe Biden hailed his government's "stunning" vaccination drive.
Despite vaccine rollouts in many countries, Covid-19 surges are putting immense pressure on authorities from Germany to Uruguay, with no end in sight for a pandemic that has claimed more than three million lives worldwide.
The underfunded healthcare system of India, home to 1.3 billion people, was being stretched to the limit by a ferocious new wave of infections, with desperate warnings of shortages of oxygen, medicines and hospital beds.
"I'm feeling really helpless," said Jasvinder Pal Singh, a pharmacy owner in the capital New Delhi.
"People are crying, they ask me for medication, and I'm saying 'no, no and no'." India's health ministry data on Thursday showed 314,835 new infections in the past 24 hours -- the most of any country since the pandemic began -- as hospitals sent out desperate warnings that patients could die without fresh oxygen supplies.
The current wave has been blamed on a new variant and super-spreader events including the Kumbh Mela, one of the world's biggest religious gatherings, as well as large political rallies.
The dire shortages have also meant boom time for profit gougers, with medications and oxygen being sold at many times their usual prices.
"My friend is desperate... we have been trying all the government helplines but none of them are responding (and) most of the oxygen suppliers have switched off their phones," said Zain Zaidi, sales manager at a hotel in the northern city of Lucknow.
"I just managed to find one supplier but he is charging 20,000 rupees ($265). I have to buy it at any cost."
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