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India posts 332,730 new cases and 2,263 deaths in past 24 hours as fire in a hospital treating COVID patients kills 13 in Maharashtra state.
India is reporting record number of coronavirus cases – and deaths – amid an alarming shortage of medical oxygen and beds in its hospitals as a brutal second wave of the virus overwhelms its under-funded, fragile healthcare system.
On Friday, the world’s second-most populous nation reported a single-day high of nearly 332,730 new cases and record 2,263 deaths.
Hospitals across northern and western India, including the capital New Delhi, say they are fully occupied and running out of oxygen supplies.
COVID meltdown exposes new front in India’s digital divide
People in need and those with information or resources are sharing telephone numbers of volunteers, vendors who have oxygen cylinders or drugs and details of which medical facility can take patients using hashtags such as #COVIDSOS.
Many people are creating Twitter accounts to seek help from those in positions of power, officials manning helpline numbers said but hundreds of millions of mainly poorer Indians do not have access to a smartphone or use social media.
India COVID crisis: Oxygen gets armed escort as supplies run low
Sirens wailing, a police convoy escorting a tanker carrying oxygen reached a hospital in India’s capital just in time, to the huge relief of doctors and relatives of COVID-19 patients counting on the supply to stave off death.
A dire shortage of oxygen – essential for the survival of critical COVID-19 patients – has meant states are closely guarding their supplies and even posting armed police at production plants to ensure security.
An empty tanker is seen outside an oxygen plant, amidst the spread of the coronavirus disease, in Ghaziabad, on the outskirts of New Delhi [Adnan Abidi/Reuters]
India’s new COVID variant: When did it emerge? Should we worry?
India is battling a record-breaking rise in COVID-19 infections.
A key question is whether a new variant with potentially worrying mutations – B.1.617 – is behind what is currently the world’s fastest-growing outbreak, which added more than 330,000 fresh infections on Friday.
The B.1.617 variant has already appeared elsewhere, including in the United States, Australia, Israel and Singapore. Concern about it has led some countries, including the United Kingdom and Canada, to slap travel restrictions on India.
A patient, wearing an oxygen mask, sits outside Lok Nayak Jai Prakash Narayan Hospital (LNJP), one of India’s largest facilities for coronavirus disease patients only [Adnan Abidi/Reuters]French president’s ‘solidarity’ message to Indians
French President Emmanuel Macron has expressed his solidarity with India as the South Asian nation struggles to contain a second wave of the coronavirus.
“I want to send a message of solidarity to the Indian people, facing a resurgence of COVID-19 cases. France is with you in this struggle, which spares no one. We stand ready to provide our support,” Macron said.
J&J COVID vaccine expected in India by July: Report
Johnson & Johnson’s single-shot COVID-19 vaccine is expected to be imported to India for “fill and finish” by June or July, India’s financial daily Mint reported.
Fill and finish is the final step in the manufacturing process of putting the vaccine into vials or syringes, sealing them and packaging them up for shipping.
India has said it would fast-track emergency approvals for COVID-19 vaccines authorised by Western countries and Japan, paving the way for possible imports of Pfizer, Johnson & Johnson and Moderna shots.
This will exempt companies from carrying out local safety trials for their vaccines.
Patients die as hospitals run out of oxygen: Reports
Indian media reports said at least 25 patients have died in the last 24 hours at a hospital in capital New Delhi after they ran out of oxygen supplies.
Max Healthcare, which runs a network of hospitals in northern and western India, posted an appeal on Twitter for emergency supplies of oxygen at its facility in capital New Delhi.
“SOS – Less than an hour’s Oxygen supplies at Max Smart Hospital & Max Hospital Saket. Awaiting promised fresh supplies from INOX since 1 am,” the company said.
Similar desperate calls from hospitals and ordinary people have been posted on social media for days this week across the country.
World record daily COVID cases for second straight day
India has recorded the world’s highest daily tally of coronavirus cases for a second day in a row, 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. Deaths rose by 2,263 to reach a total of 186,920, according to the health ministry data.
India recorded 314,835 new infections on Thursday, surpassing a record held by the United States in January when it hit 297,430 new cases. The US tally has since fallen.
Fire kills 13 COVID-19 patients in Indian hospital
A fire broke out in the intensive care unit (ICU) of a hospital in western India’s Maharashtra state has killed 13 COVID-19 patients, an official said.
The fire on the second floor of the hospital has been extinguished and some patients requiring oxygen have been moved to nearby hospitals, said Dilip Shah, CEO of Vijay Vallabh hospital in the Virar area, about 70 kilometres (43 miles) north of Mumbai.
Shah said there are 90 patients in the hospital and the cause of the fire is being investigated.
“This is happening just two days after another accident at another hospital in the state of Maharashtra,” Al Jazeera’s Elizabeth Puranam, who is in New Delhi, said.
“On Wednesday we had a leak in an oxygen tank that was supplying oxygen to patients on ventilators, fixing that leak disrupted the oxygen supply and led to the deaths of 24 COVID-19 patients.”
A general view shows a hospital after it caught fire in Virar, on the outskirts of Mumbai, India [Francis Mascarenhas/Reuters]
Canada bans flights from India, Pakistan
Canada has banned all flights from India and Pakistan for 30 days due to the growing wave of COVID-19 cases in that region, Transport Minister Omar Alghabra said.
The ban started late on Thursday, hours after India reported a global record of more than 314,000 new infections in the previous 24 hours. Cargo flights from India and Pakistan will continue.
More than a million people living in Canada have Indian descent, while there are 100,000 Canadians who have Pakistani ancestry.
