The Prime Minister of India, Narendra Modi, warned that the revival of the coronavirus in the country was like ‘hit by a storm’ as new infections exceeded more than 250,000 a day. The hospitals are in danger of being overwhelmed and cremations are carried out 24 hours a day in some areas.
His government is facing increasing criticism over the handling of the crisis, as oxygen, drugs, tests and hospital beds in the worst-hit areas are critical enough. However, Modi said that despite the large scale of the health crisis, closures should be seen as a last resort.
Fresh concern over the second wave of Covid-19 came when British Prime Minister Boris Johnson canceled a planned trip earlier this week, and India was added to the trip’s ‘red list’ amid concerns over a new variant what in the country.
In a national speech on Tuesday, Modi tried to reassure Indians with promises of vaccines for everyone 19 years and older and with praise for the country’s pharmaceutical industry.
‘The country is fighting a very big battle against Covid-19 today. “The situation improved for a while, but the second Covid-19 wave came like a storm,” said Modi.
“I express my condolences to all those who lost their loved ones to Covid-19. Just like a member of your family, I am with you in this hour of sorrow. The struggle is long and difficult, but we must overcome it with our dedication and courage. ”
Modi’s address comes just hours after he met with video manufacturers by video conference and asked them to increase production.
However, it was unclear how credible the attempt was likely to be after an appeal by India’s largest vaccine manufacturer, the Serum Institute of India, to US President Joe Biden “to stop exporting raw materials” to allow it more vaccine production.
His speech follows growing anger over the Indian prime minister, who has been criticized for still addressing tens of thousands of people during state elections and for gathering Hindu devotees for a festival, with hashtags like #ResignModi and #SuperSpreaderModi on Twitter.
India’s experience with coronavirus seems to have surpassed the trend in other countries, with cases peaking at more than 100,000 a day last year, before rising in a country of 1 in the first months of this year. 3 billion people decreased to an almost negligible 10,000 per day.
Business has started roaring again in recent weeks, with India apparently unprepared for a second wave on the scale that has arisen.
As New Delhi, the capital, rushed schools to convert hospitals, abandoned field hospitals in hard-hit cities reopened.
One of the major issues was the shortage of oxygen in many places, with India trying to import oxygen while the oxygen supply from the industry was led to hospitals.
New Delhi Sanjay Gandhi Hospital is enlarging its beds for Covid-19 patients from 46 to 160. But R Meneka, the official coordinating the Covid-19 response at the hospital, said he was not sure if the facility the capacity does not have to supply so many beds of oxygen.
The government hospital in Burari, an industrial center on the outskirts of the capital, had just two days of oxygen on Monday and found most sellers in the city were running out, said Ramesh Verma, who coordinates the Covid-19 response there.
“We get hundreds of calls for beds every minute,” he said.
Shahid Malik, who works at a small oxygen supplier, said the demand for medical oxygen increased by a factor of 10. His phone has been ringing for two days.
By Monday, the store still had oxygen, but no cylinders. He answered every call with the same message: ‘If you have your own cylinder, come get the oxygen. If you do not, we can not help you. ”
Among those who criticized the response was A Velumani, the chairman and managing director of Thyrocare, one of India’s largest private testing laboratories, who said the current demand is three times more than last year.
Laboratories were unprepared for the sharp increase in demand for testing with the current boom, Velumani said, and everyone was “caught with their pants down”.
India’s vaccination problem is also struggling with several states indicating shortages, although the federal government claims there are enough supplies.
On Monday, it said it would soon expand the vaccinations to every adult in the country, estimated at 900 million people. But with a shortage of global vaccine, it is not clear when Indian vaccine manufacturers will have the ability to achieve these goals.