Patients suffering from coronavirus (COVID-19) are being treated at the Accident and Emergency Department of Lok Nayak Jai Prakash (LNJP) Hospital, amid the spread of the disease in New Delhi, India on April 15, 2021. REUTERS / Danish Siddiqui / File Photo
India has set a daily record of coronavirus infections over the past 24 hours, the Ministry of Health data showed on Sunday, exacerbating the shortage of oxygen supply and hospital beds in some of the worst-hit cities in the country.
India reported 261,500 new cases, taking the total case tax to nearly 14.8 million, just second only to the United States which reported more than 31 million infections.
India’s deaths from COVID-19 rose by 1,501 to a total of 177,150, the data showed.
India, which is hit by the spread of more contagious variants of the disease, is struggling with a severe shortage of hospital beds, oxygen supplies and critical medicines such as the antiviral drug Remdesivir.
Concerned about the sharp increase in cases of coronavirus, Prime Minister Narendra Modi last night called on the authorities to stop everything to increase the production of COVID-19 vaccines.
Modi also checked the general readiness of his administration and stressed that the availability of hospital beds and oxygen and fans are available. He also asked his team to work closely with local governments, especially the twelve states plagued by an increase in coronavirus cases.
But opposition parties, including the Congress party, have criticized Modi for addressing major elections in order to help his Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) win the state assembly in the eastern part of West Bengal.
Speaking at a large rally of his supporters in West Bengal on Saturday, Modi said: ‘I can see a sea of masses. I have never seen a rally like this. ‘
The Aam Aadmi (Common Man) party, which is in power in the capital, New Delhi, mocked the political gatherings of Modi by posting on social media photos of funerals in the congested crematoria of the city.
“The joy of the Prime Minister (Prime Minister) during the election of a large crowd during his election rally in Asansol (West Bengal) in Covid times, could only come from someone who is completely insensitive,” said Yashwant Sinha, a former cabinet minister who broke away from the BJP said on Twitter. “I regret his remarks.”
Stung by the shortage of hospital beds and oxygen cylinders, people used Twitter to seek help and post photos of overwhelming hospitals.
On Saturday, New Delhi recorded 24,000 cases of coronavirus in a 24-hour period, and Prime Minister Arvind Kejriwal warned of a chronic shortage of hospital beds.
Separately, at least five coronavirus patients were killed last night in a hospital fire in Raipur, the capital of the central state of Chhattisgarh.
The rest of the patients were evacuated to other coronavirus facilities, said Tarkeshwar Patel, additional police supervisor in Raipur.
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