India has surpassed the highest-ever global daily Covid-19 case numbers for a second day in a row, as the situation continues to spiral with over 330,000 infections recorded in the past 24 hours and hospitals struggling to cope.
The latest data saw India record a tragic double record – globally, for the highest number of cases in a 24-hour period, and nationally, for the worst single day in virus-related deaths. The 332,730 new infections have taken its figure since the start of the pandemic to over 16.3 million, while fatalities from the virus rose by 2,263 to a total of 187,390, according to Health Ministry data released on Friday.
The continuing spike in case numbers occurs as the nation faces a shortage of oxygen supplies for Covid patients, leaving doctors unable to provide treatment for some patients. Crematoriums have been forced to hold mass funerals to prevent a backlog of coffins.
Addressing the situation, the health minister of India’s eastern state of Chhattisgarh, T.S. Singh Deo, declared: “It is grim. It is grave… There is an extreme shortage of ICU beds.”
Prime Minister Narendra Modi expressed similar concerns after meeting with ministers in the country’s worst-hit areas, pledging to do whatever is necessary to ensure a continued supply of medicine and oxygen to anyone who needs it.
Just a day earlier, the country soared past the previous global daily case record of 297,430 infections held by the United States, as the country faces the spread of a newer variant, dubbed B1617, which scientists say is more infectious than earlier strains.
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