India is now the “hardest hit” area of the global new coronavirus outbreak. The number of confirmed new coronavirus infections in India exceeds 200,000 per day for several days, and it is not known when the second wave of the coronavirus outbreak, which began in early February, will reach its peak.
According to data released by India’s health department on Wednesday (April 21), 290,541 new cases of coronavirus were confirmed across India in the past 24 hours, the highest number of new cases in a single day since the outbreak began, according to multiple media reports. As of Wednesday, India has exceeded 200,000 new confirmed cases in a single day for the seventh consecutive day. Meanwhile, health care and other essential services across India are reportedly on the verge of collapse, comparable to a raging tsunami.
According to CNN, Jalil Parkar, a pulmonologist at Mumbai’s Lilavati Hospital, described the number of confirmed cases as “overwhelming. “It’s like a tsunami,” he says. He said the hospital had to convert the lobby into a ward for treating patients with the new coronavirus.
“The situation is out of control,” said Ramanan Laxminarayan, director of the Center for Disease Dynamics, Economics and Policy in New Delhi.
He said, “There is no oxygen. Hospital beds are hard to find. It’s impossible to do tests. You have to wait more than a week. Almost every system in the health care system that could collapse has collapsed.”
Reuters reported that many public hospitals in the capital, Delhi, reported that the remaining amount of oxygen can only last 8 to 24 hours, and other private hospitals reported only 4 to 5 hours of oxygen.
To add insult to injury, in Maharashtra, the state where the outbreak is most severe, a sudden leak from an oxygen storage plant on Wednesday disrupted the supply of oxygen to a local hospital, killing at least 22 people infected with the new coronavirus.
In Maharashtra, the current daily demand for oxygen for patients with New Coronavirus pneumonia is 1,550 tons, but the state produces 1,250 tons of oxygen, all of which is used for medical purposes.
CNN reported that Maharashtra Health Minister Rajesh Topper told reporters Wednesday that the remaining shortfall of 300 tons is being supplied by other states.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi addressed the nation Tuesday, acknowledging that India is fighting a “very tough battle” against the new pneumoconiosis. He called on states to “seal off their cities as a last resort. The capital, New Delhi, went into a week-long “city closure” Monday to contain the worsening Newcastle outbreak.
Modi announced plans to ship 100,000 bottles of oxygen across the country, build new oxygen production plants, and hospitals to treat patients with the new stigma.
The Indian government is now urgently converting stadiums, banquet halls, hotels and schools into treatment centers for New Crown patients, with the goal of adding 6,000 beds in a matter of days.
India’s neo-coronavirus infection rate was on the decline late last year, and experts believe that paralysis and a false sense of security about the coronavirus has allowed the Indian government and public to relax their vigilance about the outbreak.
Laxminarayan of India’s Center for Disease Dynamics, Economics and Policy said the relaxed vigilance means residents are placing less emphasis on keeping social distance or wearing masks. Despite continued warnings of a coronavirus outbreak, sporting events, weddings and movie theaters have reopened.
The Kumh Mela, which is currently being held in India, has attracted millions of Hindu devotees to the city of Hridwar in North Akhand, with many reportedly not wearing masks. The Big Pot Festival is considered to be a superb place for the spread of the epidemic in India that continues to refresh.
The Big Pot Festival is an important Hindu festival and one of the largest religious gatherings in the world. The Big Pot Festival is held every three years and rotates among the four holy cities, taking 12 years to rotate to one city. The important event of the Great Pot Festival is a sacred bath in the Ganges River to cleanse the sins. Millions of Indians travel from all over the country to the ancient city of Haridwar in North Akhand to participate in rituals and prayers and to take a sacred dip in the Ganges. The festival lasts at least a month.
This year’s Great Pot Festival officially began on April 1, and authorities have stipulated that only visitors who test negative for the new coronavirus can participate in the holy bath, but, given the large number of participants, experts fear that the authorities’ regulations are insufficient to control the risks.
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