Hospitals in India are near “total collapse” as the country’s Covid-19 crisis spirals further out of control amid a second wave of the killer disease, doctors are warning.
Record numbers of new cases are putting extreme pressure on hospital beds while oxygen supplies run dangerously low across vast swathes of the country.
A number of medical centers have been forced to issue desperate SOS pleas on social media, calling for oxygen container replacements. In Delhi, four hospitals were shut down earlier this week after supplies were exhausted.
The Supreme Court has described the Covid-19 crisis as a “national emergency” and cemanded the government to bring forward a plan to help stem rising cases and deaths.
On Saturday, health officials reported 346,786 new cases in the previous 24 hours, setting a world record for the third consecutive day, official figures show. Some 2,264 people died after contracting the infection, up from 2,263 on the day before.
Elsewhere, over half of the UK’s total population has now received a first dose of a coronavirus vaccine, according to official figures. The UK first dose total so far stands at 33,496,293 after NHS England confirmed a further 107,656 jabs were administered as of 23 April.
