India breaks COVID-19 world record again, at brink of catastrophe

S.Korea reports 1,540 COVID-19 infections in fully vaccinated people

S.Korea reports 1,540 COVID-19 infections in fully vaccinated people

India faces critical COVID-19 crisis
India faces critical COVID-19 crisis

Agency Report

India has reported another world record 349,691 COVID-19 cases in a single day, as well as its highest jump in daily deaths.

The Union Health Ministry reported 2,767 deaths in the last 24 hours, as hospitals in Delhi and across the country rejected patients after running out of medical oxygen and beds.

India’s caseload has increased to 16,960,172, while active cases have surpassed 2,600,000.

The country of 1.3 billion people is on the brink of a humanitarian catastrophe, Ashish Jha, dean of the Brown University School of Public Health, warned in an op-ed published Saturday in the Washington Post.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday urged all citizens to be vaccinated and exercise caution, saying the “storm” of infections had shaken the country.

“We were confident, our spirits were up after successfully tackling the first wave, but this storm has shaken the nation,” Modi said in a radio address.

Modi’s government has faced criticism that it let its guard down, allowed big religious and political gatherings to take place when India’s cases plummeted to below 10,000 a day and did not plan on building up the healthcare systems.

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Hospitals and doctors have put out urgent notices that they were unable to cope with the rush of patients.

People were arranging stretchers and oxygen cylinders outside hospitals as they desperately pleaded for authorities to take patients in, Reuters photographers said.

“Every day, it is the same situation, we are left with two hours of oxygen, we only get assurances from the authorities,” one doctor said on television.

The United States said it was deeply concerned by the massive surge in coronavirus cases in India and was racing to send aid to India.

“Our hearts go out to the Indian people in the midst of the horrific COVID-19 outbreak,” U.S. Secretary of State Anthony Blinken said on twitter.

India’s total tally of infections stands at 16.96 million and deaths 192,311 after 2,767 more died overnight, health ministry data showed.

In the last month alone, daily cases have gone up eight times and deaths by 10 times. Health experts say the death count is probably far higher.

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