India has few beds, oxygen and India adds global high 314K virus cases

NEW DELHI (AP) – India on Thursday reported a world record of more than 314,000 new infections as a raging coronavirus outbreak in the second most populous country in the world sends more and more sick people to a fragile health care system that is critically lacking hospital beds and oxygen.

The 314,835 infections added in the last 24 hours increase India’s total of 15.9 million cases since the pandemic began. It is the second highest total in the world after the United States. India has nearly 1.4 billion people.

The death toll has risen by 2,104 over the past 24 hours, bringing the total death toll from India to 184,657.

A large number of hospitals report acute shortages of beds and medicines and have dangerously low oxygen levels.

The New Delhi High Court on Wednesday ordered the government to divert oxygen from industrial use to hospitals to save people’s lives. “You can not let people die because there is no oxygen. Begging, borrowing or stealing, it’s a national emergency, ‘the judges said in response to a petition from a New Delhi hospital.

The government is pushing for oxygen tankers to replenish supplies in hospitals.

Indian Health Minister Harsh Vardhan said on Thursday that “supply and demand are monitored 24 hours a day.” He said in a tweet that the government had increased the quota of oxygen for the seven states hardest hit to address the exponential increase in demand.

Exclusions and severe curbs have caused many lives in New Delhi and other cities pain, dread and pain.

At scenes known across the country, ambulances are seen rushing from one hospital to another trying to find an empty bed. Bereaved family members stand outside crematoria where the arrival of corpses has already jumped several times.

‘I get numerous calls every day from patients who are desperate for a bed. Demand is far too much more than supply, ”said Dr Sanjay Gururaj, a doctor at Shanti Hospital and Research Center in Bengaluru.

‘I try to find beds for patients every day, and it was incredibly frustrating not to help them. In the past week, three of my patients have died at home because they could not get beds. “As a doctor, it’s a horrible feeling,” Gururaj said.

Yogesh Dixit, a resident of the northern state of Uttar Pradesh, said earlier this week that he had to buy two oxygen cylinders at 12,000 rupees ($ 160) each, more than twice the normal cost, for his sick father because the state-run hospital in Lucknow’s stock ran out.

He bought two “because the doctors could ask for another oxygen cylinder at any time,” he said, adding that he had to sell his wife’s jewelry to cover the cost.

The main cremation field in Lucknow, the state capital, received nearly 200 bodies on Sunday. Shekhar Chakraborty, 68, described the scene: ‘The bodies were everywhere, they were cremated on sidewalks intended for walking. “I have never had such a stream of corpses in my life,” he said.

In Kanpur, another city in the state of Uttar Pradesh, 35 new temporary platforms on Bithoor-Sidhnath Ghat were stretched along the Ganges River to cremate bodies.

The Ministry of Health said that of the country’s total production of 7,500 tons (8,300 US tons) of oxygen per day, 6,600 tons (7,275 US tons) are allocated for medical use.

It is also said that 75 railway buses in the Indian capital have been turned into hospitals, providing an additional 1,200 beds for COVID-19 patients.

The Times of India newspaper reports that the previous highest number of daily cases of 307,581 was reported on January 8 in the US.

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Associated Press authors Krutika Pathi in New Delhi and Biswajeet Banerjee in Lucknow, India, contributed to the report.

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