India Breaks Record with 296,000 Coronavirus Cases and 2,000 Deaths in One Day
The Indian Ministry of Health has reported this Wednesday the maximum figures of coronavirus registered in the last day, with 295,941 new cases and 2,023 deaths, while the Indian Prime Minister, Narendra Modi, has asked state governments to propose a closure only as of the last resource.
The country has accumulated 15,616,130 positives for covid-19 since the pandemic broke out, with 2,157,528 active cases, while the total number of deaths stands at 182,553.
India faces a significant increase in infections and mortality that some states seek to curb with closures and restrictions, such as Delhi, which has imposed a total closure until April 26, while restrictions have also been adopted in Maharashtra, one of the most affected states, until May 1.
The lack of oxygen for the care of affected patients is another of the great problems of the country, as several states try to meet the high demand, according to the ‘Hindustan Times‘, the principal newspaper of the country. Modi has guaranteed, in this regard, that “efforts are being made to increase the production” of this input and its supply “at various levels“. “Measures are being taken such as the installation of new oxygen plants to provide thousands of new cylinders,” he said.
On the other hand, the Government has eliminated import duties on Remdesivir, one of the drugs to treat coronavirus patients, and its raw materials. “Imports of Remdesivir, injections and specific supplies have been made duty-free. This should increase supply and reduce costs, thus providing relief to patients,” said the Indian Minister of Railways, Trade, and Industry. Piyush Goyal. India is the second country in the world most affected by the pandemic, only behind the United States.
A collapse in Indian hospitals
India, which began in 2021 with fewer than 10,000 daily cases, recorded more than 200,000 new infections on April 20. Although it has not been confirmed, it seems that the massive celebration of the Kumbh Mela festival attended by millions of Hindus would have produced this rebound. During this event, the population ‘passed over’ the agents in charge of compliance with sanitary measures.
This has led to a health facility in Delhi designed for the exclusive treatment of COVID-19 with 1,500 beds, allocating one mattress for every two patients. Due to the lack of necessary ambulances, the arrival of the infected at the hospital was not much better. Most of them went to emergency rooms similarly overwhelmed by buses and automated tricycles.
Hospital staff has been forced to allocate one bed for every two patients, although it seems that the measure is not being enough. In this way, those admitted who are not related to each other would be sharing a mattress. On the other hand, the bodies of the deceased (who arrived in serious condition) remain outside the room before being sent to the warehouse.
According to the medical staff, people are not following the sanitary measures since at the exit of the hospitals there is a multitude of people without respecting the distance, waiting to receive the body of their loved one.
