India continued to set grim global records as it reported more than 360,000 new infections in the last 24 hours and deaths surpassing 200,000 due to coronavirus.
The health ministry data on Wednesday showed 201,187 people have died – a record 3,293 new fatalities – due to COVID-19, though experts suspect that the death toll could be much higher than the government figures.
According to daily statistics released by the ministry, 360,960 new cases were registered, taking the country’s overall caseload to 17.99 million.
India has been registering an exponentially high number of cases – over 300,000 daily COVID-19 infections since April 22 – leading to a shortage of medical oxygen, hospital beds and treatment drugs. Daily cases on Monday reached 352,991, while the country saw 323,144 new cases on Tuesday.
The situation is even worse in the capital New Delhi, where hospitals have expressed their helplessness as they face an acute oxygen shortage. There have been a number of cases where patients are dying as they fail to get oxygen beds at hospitals.
According to official figures, New Delhi reported over 24,000 new cases and 381 deaths late Tuesday.
The badly hit state of Maharashtra recorded 895 deaths late Tuesday, the highest ever figure for the state in a single day.
With more fatalities reported across the country, cities are reporting far larger numbers of cremations and burials. While those managing the cremations and burials say they have not seen such a number before, New Delhi has now made makeshift funeral pyres to deal with the growing cremations.
With India continuing to be battered by the mounting coronavirus crisis, the international community has come forward to provide assistance to the country. The first emergency medical supplies from the UK arrived on Tuesday.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi is under fire for failing to manage the second wave of the pandemic. The country is now using railways, the air force and the navy to transport oxygen across the country.
