In South Asia, the Covid-19 virus has swept across the Indian landscape. More than 300,000 people have been diagnosed in the past 24 hours, and 2,000 have died from the epidemic. India now has the highest number of confirmed infections per day in the world. The outbreak in India is due to a “double mutation” of the Covid-19 virus.
India has seen more than 2,000 deaths from Covid-19 infection in the last 24 hours. One of the main reasons for the rise in the number of deaths is the severe lack of oxygen in hospitals.
Jitin Sheti, a family member of a Covid patient, was interviewed by RFI’s Sébastien Farcis from India on Thursday (April 22, 2021). He’s been waiting for a bed in a New Delhi hospital for his sick wife for two days. In the meantime, he had to find his own oxygen. He says he got a bottle of oxygen through a personal connection. Of course, it was hard to get, and expensive. His wife’s blood oxygen level was only 88 and her condition was deteriorating.
Oxygen Shortage Across India
All parts of India are now facing oxygen shortages. Even the largest hospitals have only hours of reserves. In Lucknow, the capital of Uttar Pradesh, a private hospital said it had only 15 minutes of oxygen reserves on Wednesday, and there were no oxygen cylinders left to call in the city. In Nashik, near Mumbai, an oxygen leak killed 24 patients in a matter of minutes.
India increases production of oxygen
India has increased its oxygen production in recent weeks, but not fast enough. Because, now, more than half of the patients need oxygen, much more than in the previous wave.
Image RFI – Inde – New Delhi – coronavirus – le 22 avril 2021
Image d’archive RFI : Un parent d’une personne décédée du covid-19 à New Delhi lui rend hommage avant son incinération, le 22 avril 2021 SAJJAD HUSSAIN AFP / RFI Archive
From Thursday, industrial oxygen, which was used for the production of non-essential goods, has also been diverted to supply the needs of hospitals. But it was too late for the family, which was desperately searching for oxygen in social media. As the woman, who hung up the phone, said, the person who needed the oxygen had already passed away.
A “double mutation” of the virus
The exponentially growing outbreak in India, which has infected nearly 3.5 million people since the beginning of the month, is largely due to a “double mutation” of the virus.
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