ISLAMABAD: Edhi Foundation head Faisal Edhi has written a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, offering his organisation’s assistance in managing the current coronavirus crises in India.
India recorded the world’s highest daily tally of coronavirus cases for the second day in a row on Friday, while daily deaths from COVID-19 also jumped by a record. With 332,730 new cases, India’s total caseload has now passed 16 million.
Television showed people with empty oxygen cylinders crowding refilling facilities in the most populous state of Uttar Pradesh.
“We never thought a second wave would hit us so hard,” Kiran Mazumdar Shaw, the executive chairman of Biocon & Biocon Biologics, an Indian healthcare firm said.
India has already launched a vaccination drive but only a tiny fraction of the population has had the shots.
Authorities have announced that vaccines will be available to anyone over the age of 18 from May 1 but India won’t have enough shots for the 600 million people who will become eligible.
Health experts said India had let its guard down when the virus seemed to be under control during the winter, when new daily cases were about 10,000, and it lifted restrictions to allow big gatherings.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government has come in for criticism for holding packed political rallies for local elections and allowing a religious festival at which millions gathered.
