India’s 2019 coronavirus disease (COVID-19) epidemic is severe, with a record 3,689 new deaths. More foreign medical aid is arriving in India today in hopes of alleviating the severe oxygen shortage.
The number of new cases and deaths in India is setting new records almost daily. The epidemic is sweeping through under-resourced hospitals in the cities and spreading to rural areas.
India, with a population of 1.3 billion, today recorded 3,689 new deaths from the epidemic, a single-day high since the beginning of the epidemic, and a cumulative death toll of more than 215,000; nearly 400,000 new cases of the disease were reported, with a cumulative total of more than 19.5 million cases.
The authorities announced the latest figures as countries took action to help India, with medical equipment such as oxygen machines from France and Germany arriving in the capital New Delhi one after another.
Germany’s ambassador to India, Walter J. Lindner, said that Indian hospitals are now so overcrowded that people sometimes face death in front of hospitals and in their own cars. For his part, French Ambassador Emmanuel Lenain said France wants to show solidarity with India.
The eastern Indian province of Orissa (Odisha) today became the latest province to order the closure of its cities to combat the epidemic. The city of Delhi, the worst affected city in the country, was closed for a week yesterday after more than 25,000 new cases were reported.
Vaccinations were opened to all adults in India yesterday, but supplies are now so short that people under 45 can only register online.
In addition to India, other countries in densely populated South Asia are also sounding the alarm.
Nepal’s health ministry warned on April 30 of a surge in cases and that hospitals were on the verge of running out of beds. Yesterday, 5,706 new cases were reported in Nepal, only slightly lower than the 5,743 cases recorded in a single day last October. Almost half of Nepal’s 77 districts have been closed or under partial lockdown.
Sri Lanka also saw a record 1,699 new cases yesterday, with authorities further restricting people’s movement and activities in some areas.
“Unless we can stop this current wave of infections, we could be facing an Indian-style crisis very soon,” said Sudath Samaraweera, Sri Lanka’s chief epidemiologist.
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