Twelve of India’s 28 states accounted for more than 100,000 active cases each and the rate of infection and mortality was on the rise in five of them, the health ministry said.
The latest deaths pushed India’s toll to 231,419. Charities and NGOs supporting Covid patients say the actual number of active cases were much higher.
Single day rise of 4,12,262 COVID-19 infections, 3,980 fatalities push India's tally of cases to 2,10,77,410, death toll to 23,01,68:Govt
— Press Trust of India (@PTI_News) May 6, 2021
On Thursday, the capital Delhi, the worst-hit city, again witnessed the now-familiar sight of residents sprinting from one overcrowded city hospital to another seeking beds.
Delhi’s elected state government told India’s Supreme Court Thursday it received just 555 tonnes of oxygen but it needed 976 tonnes daily.
It accused the federal government of “wriggling out” from its responsibility of helping Delhi, which has reported 1.2 million cases and 18,000 Covid deaths.
The city government said demand for oxygen in some areas has skyrocketed by 700 percent in Delhi.
At least 50 Covid patients have died so far in Delhi hospitals due to oxygen shortages.
Delhi reported 19,133 new cases in 24 hours to Thursday.
AAP MP @SanjayAzadSln and his partner Anita Singh launch “Auto ambulances” in Delhi.
— Aneesha Bedi (@AneeshaBedi) May 5, 2021
Fitted with oxygen support, Delhi residents can avail the facility by reaching out in the following numbers:
9818430043/011-41236614 pic.twitter.com/WapSom0gVA
The police busted a gang of criminals that sold fire extinguishers improvised to resemble oxygen cylinders to Covid patients.
The black market in medical supplies has also flourished in Delhi where some physicians were charging huge sums to help people.
Virus hits diplomatic enclave
Several Delhi-based diplomats have also tested positive.
The Hindu newspaper said embassies of Singapore, Vietnam, Palestine and the Philippines have Covid patients.
“It is difficult to put a figure to it but I’d say a significant number of mission personnel are affected,” a Western diplomat who did not want to be named told RFI.
Eight of the 11 England cricketers involved in the now-suspended Indian Premier League have returned home and tournament organisers plan to ferry 37 Australians to the Maldives or Sri Lanka.
Bangalore, India’s software capital, posted 23,106 new cases on Thursday amid fears the southern city was set to overtake Delhi in infections.
Third Wave ‘inevitable’
The government, faced with calls for a nationwide lockdown, warned a third wave was “inevitable”.
“A phase three is inevitable, given the high levels of circulating virus, but it is not clear on what time scale this phase three will occur,” the government’s chief scientist K. Vijay Raghavan told reporters.
“Previous infections and vaccines will cause adaptive pressure on the virus for new kinds of changes which try to escape, and, therefore, we should be prepared, scientifically to take care of that,” he added.
A highly-contagious variant tagged B.1.617 led India’s second surge. It has also reached at least 17 countries including Algeria, Britain, Iran, Switzerland, Malaysia, Morocco and Kenya.
I had already warned two days ago that the third Coronavirus wave will target young children. We need a serious Crisis Management Team now instead of PMO psychos to monitor and strategize the response. Today the NITI Aayog Member confirms the danger of the third wave
— Subramanian Swamy (@Swamy39) May 5, 2021
The World Health Organization has described it as a “variant of concern.”
A group of Indian scientists recently blamed the federal government of doing little to arrest the spread of B.1.617.
A rash of election in five states, massive religious festivals, a stop-start vaccination drive and delayed response to the deadly strain put India as the second worst hit country after the US.
