India sets another grim COVID-19 infections record for a second day
A COVID-19 patient waits inside an ambulance to be attended to and admitted into a dedicated COVID-19 government hospital in Ahmedabad, India, April 22, 2021.
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The coronavirus surge in India is pushing its health care system to the brink as the country reports the highest single-day number of new cases in the world. On Friday, India reported 332,730 new cases — topping a grim record set the previous day.
India’s Supreme Court on Thursday called on Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government to develop an urgent national plan for oxygen supply and essential drugs for the coronavirus treatment. Government officials have now started running trains loaded with oxygen tanks scrambling to hospitals.
“We have surplus oxygen at plants which are far off from places where it is needed right now. Trucking oxygen is a challenge from these plants,” said Saket Tiku, president of the All India Industrial Gases Manufacturers Association.
The dire situation has forced health officials to warn of a widespread short supply of critical oxygen, ventilators and beds for infected patients. At least 2.7 million people in India are now vaccinated but that’s still less than 10% of the population who’ve gotten a first shot.
What The World is following
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