NEW DELHI: India reported another record daily rise in coronavirus cases on Friday, bringing total new cases for the week to 1.57 million,
India’s deadly second wave of COVID-19 continues unabated and its total number of cases now stand at 21.49 million, as the country’s vaccination rate falls dramatically due to a lack of supplies and transport problems.
The country reported a record daily 414,188 new cases on Friday, while deaths from COVID-19 swelled by 3,915, bringing total deaths to 234,083. Medical experts say the real extent of COVID-19 in India is five to 10 times the official tallies.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi has been widely criticised for not acting sooner to suppress the second wave, after religious festivals and political rallies drew tens of thousands of people in recent weeks and became “super spreader” events.
His government has also been criticised for delays in the country’s vaccination programme, which medical experts say is India’s only hope of controlling the second COVID-19 wave.
India is the world’s biggest vaccine make buy it is struggling to produce enough doses to stem the wave of COVID-19.
Modi has stressed that Indian states must keep up vaccination rates. Although the country has administered at least 157 million vaccine doses, its rate of inoculation has fallen sharply in recent days.
READ MORE: India reports record deaths, cases amid ‘inevitable’ third wave
The European Union backed a US proposal to discuss waiving patent protections for COVID-19 vaccines in an effort to increase the supply and access to vaccines, especially in vulnerable developing countries.
India’s healthcare system is crumbling under the weight of COVID-19 patients, with hospitals running out of beds and medical oxygen. Morgues and crematoriums cannot handle the number of dead and makeshift funeral pyres burn in parks and parking lots.
Although northern and western India bear the brunt of the disease, the share of the five southern states in the country’s daily surge in infections rose from 28% to 33% in the first seven days of May, data shows.
In the southern city of Chennai, only one in a hundred oxygen supported beds and two in a hundred beds in intensive care units were vacant on Thursday, from a vacancy rate of over 20% each two weeks ago, government data showed.
READ MORE: India’s daily COVID-19 cases surpass 400,000 for first time
In India’s tech capital Bengaluru, only 23 of the 590 beds in intensive care units were vacant, and only 1 in 50 beds with a ventilator were vacant, a situation officials say points to an impending crisis. New Delhi’s three-wheeled autorickshaws have become makeshift ambulances to ferry COVID-19 patients.
Several Indian states have imposed various levels of social restrictions to try to stem infections, but the federal government has resisted imposing a national lockdown.
Aid from foreign countries continued to pour in, as consignments from Poland, Netherlands and Switzerland reached India on Friday, foreign ministry spokesman Arindam Bagchi said on Twitter.
