India reports nearly 400,000 new coronavirus cases in a single day
\nMore emergency medical aid from foreign donors to alleviate a dire oxygen shortage arrived in India on Sunday, as Covid-19 deaths in the South Asian nation rose to a new record.
\nIndia is setting almost-daily records for new infections and deaths as the virus crisis engulfs overstretched hospitals in cities and spreads into rural regions.
\nThe country of 1.3 billion reported 3,689 deaths on Sunday \u2014 the highest single-day rise yet in the pandemic, to take the overall toll to more than 215,000.
\nJust under 400,000 infections were added, bringing the total number of cases past 19.5 million.
\nThe latest figures came as medical equipment, including oxygen-generation plants, was flown into the capital New Delhi from France and Germany as part of a huge international effort.
\n\u201cWe are here because we are bringing help that… will save lives,\u201d Germany\u2019s ambassador to India, Walter J. Lindner, said as 120 ventilators arrived late Saturday.
\n\u201cOut there the hospitals are full. People are sometimes dying in front of the hospitals. They have no more oxygen. Sometimes (they are dying) in their cars.\u201d
\nFrench ambassador Emmanuel Lenain said his country wanted to show solidarity with India.
\n\u201cThe epidemic is still going on in one country. The world won\u2019t be safe until we are all safe. So it\u2019s a matter of urgency,\u201d he said early Sunday following the delivery of eight oxygen-generation plants and dozens of ventilators from France.
\nIndia\u2019s eastern state of Odisha on Sunday became the latest region to order a lockdown to slow the spread of the pathogen.
\nThe nation\u2019s worst-hit city, Delhi, reported just over 25,000 cases on Saturday as it extended its own lockdown by another week.
\nHospitals in the capital continued to issue SOS calls for oxygen on social media, with the latest appeal posted by a children\u2019s hospital on Twitter on Sunday.
\nThe plea came a day after up to a dozen patients died at a Delhi hospital amid an oxygen shortage, local media reported.
\nThere are also growing fears about the surge of the virus in small cities, towns and rural regions where health infrastructure is already patchy and limited.
\nIndia on Saturday opened up its inoculation drive to all adults, but supplies are running low and only online enrolments are allowed for those aged under 45.
\n\u201cIt is a necessity now. We are seeing so many people testing positive,\u201d data scientist Megha Srivastava, 35, told AFP outside a Delhi vaccination center as she waited for her shot.
\nThe head of the world\u2019s largest vaccine maker, Serum Institute chief Adar Poonawalla, told The Times newspaper on Saturday during a business trip to Britain that he was being hounded by political and business leaders for more supplies.
\n\u201c\u2019Threats\u2019 is an understatement,\u201d he told the paper. \u201cThe level of expectation and aggression is really unprecedented. It\u2019s overwhelming. Everyone feels they should get the vaccine.\u201d
\nExperts have called on the government to allow more flexibility in India\u2019s vaccine rollout, particularly in poorer rural areas where there is lower Internet penetration.
\n\u201cWe should procure sufficient vaccines, then plan bottom-up through… the primary health center level,\u201d Bangalore-based public health expert Hemant Shewade told AFP.
\n\u201cTake vaccines to the people the way we have implemented our polio and measles campaigns.\u201d
\nAlarm bells are also ringing in other countries in densely populated South Asia.
\n\u201cInfections have surged beyond the capacity of the health system,\u201d Nepal\u2019s health ministry said Friday as it warned that hospital beds were running out amid a spike in infections.
\nOn Saturday, the Himalayan nation recorded 5,706 new cases, just shy of a pandemic high of 5,743 in October.
\nNearly 40 percent of people tested returned a positive result, data from the ministry showed.
\nThe government has enforced lockdowns or partial lockdowns in almost half of Nepal\u2019s 77 districts.
\nIn Sri Lanka, daily infections hit a record 1,699 on Saturday, with authorities imposing further curbs on movement and activities in parts of the island nation.
\n\u201cWe could face an India-type crisis very soon unless we arrest the current trend of infections,\u201d chief epidemiologist Sudath Samaraweera said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
India reports nearly 400,000 new coronavirus cases in a single day More emergency medical aid from foreign donors to alleviate a dire oxygen shortage arrived in India on Sunday, as Covid-19 deaths in the South Asian nation rose to a new record. India is setting almost-daily records for new infections and deaths as the virus […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":189856,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-189843","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-world"],"yoast_head":"\n