India’s new coronavirus outbreak continues to rage. The latest single-day death toll from New Coronavirus pneumonia reported by Indian government agencies on Sunday (May 9) surpassed the record of 4,000 for the second consecutive day.
India has seen 4,092 deaths in the past 24 hours, bringing the total number of deaths to 242,362, according to the Indian Ministry of Health report Sunday. New cases rose by 403,738, slightly below the record, bringing the total to 22.3 million since the start of the pandemic.
India was hit hard by the second wave of the new coronary pneumonia epidemic, with cases and deaths hitting record highs every other day. Many hospitals are experiencing severe shortages of oxygen and beds, and morgues and crematoriums are overcrowded. Reuters reports that experts say the actual number of new coronary pneumonia cases and deaths could be much higher.
Faced with a sudden second wave of the outbreak, many Indian states have imposed strict lockdowns over the past month to curb the surge in infections. Other states have announced restrictions on public events and closed cinemas, restaurants, bars and shopping malls.
India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi is now under increasing pressure to announce a nationwide lockdown similar to the one imposed during the first wave of the outbreak last year.
The Indian Medical Association (IMA) has called for a “complete, well-planned and pre-announced” lockdown, rather than “sporadic” curfews and restrictions imposed by states for a few days at a time.
The IMA said in a statement Saturday that the second wave of the new crown outbreak has caused a distressing crisis in India and that it was “appalled by the extreme lethargy and misconduct of the Indian Ministry of Health in combating this crisis.
India’s health ministry on Saturday reported the highest-ever single-day death toll from new coronary pneumonia, at 4,187. Reuters reported that The Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation estimates that 1 million people will die from NCCP in India by August.
India began opening up vaccinations to all adults this month in hopes of curbing the surge in new coronary pneumonia infections. At its peak in early April, India was averaging a record 3.5 million injections per day. However, the limited number of vaccine stockpiles has slowed the pace of vaccinations.
India is a major vaccine producer, and at one point, vaccine exports reached 64 million doses late last year as the epidemic eased in India and demand for vaccines was not urgent. But as the number of infections began to rise in March and April, India’s exports slowed sharply to meet domestic needs. To date, about 10 percent of India’s population has received one dose of the vaccine, while slightly less than 2.5 percent have completed two doses.
Meanwhile, oxygen supplies continue to be in short supply. The Associated Press reports that complaints about oxygen shortages have dominated the case before India’s Supreme Court. India’s Supreme Court said Saturday that it will set up a national task force of leading experts and doctors to conduct an “oxygen audit” to determine whether the federal government’s oxygen supply is reaching the states.
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