Over the past two months,the outbreak in India has exploded,with reports of superspreader gatherings,oxygen shortages and ambulances lined up outside hospitals because there are no ventilators for new patients.
As cases worldwide reach new weekly records,40 per cent of the infections are coming from India,a sobering reminder the pandemic is far from over,even as infections decline and vaccinations speed ahead in the United States and other wealthy parts of the world. India has surpassed 15.9 million total infections,the second most after the US and ahead of Brazil with 14.1 million.
The death toll has also begun to climb precipitously.
On Thursday,the Indian government recorded 2104 deaths,and more than 1300 people have died of the virus every day for the past week. That is less than at the worst points of the pandemic in the US or Brazil,but it is a steep increase from just two months ago,when fewer than 100 Indians were dying of COVID daily.
The country’s healthcare system is showing signs of buckling under the strain of the second wave of infections. Authorities reported that an accident at a COVID-19 hospital killed more than 20 people.
The accident happened in the western state of Maharashtraafter a leak in the hospital’s main oxygen tank stopped the flow of oxygen to dozens of critically ill people. Televised images showed family members wailing in the wards and nurses frantically pounding on the chests of some patients.