Toll of covid cases in India is increasing at a rapid rate with 2,00,000 cases on Wednesday. Indians struggled to register online for a mass vaccination drive set to open at the weekend. The country’s situation is worsened by shortages of hospital beds and medical oxygen.
The second wave of covid has witnessed at least 300,000 people test positive each day for the past week. The situation is prompting an increasingly urgent response from allies overseas sending equipment.
Tuesday brought 360,960 fresh cases for the world’s largest single-day total, taking India’s toll of infections to nearly 18 million. It was also the deadliest day till now with 3,293 fatalities carrying the toll to 201,187.
Experts think the official tally greatly underestimates the exact toll in a nation of 1.35 billion.
“The situation is horrific, absolutely terrible … Everyone is afraid, every single person. People are afraid that if I am talking to a person, maybe I won’t get to talk to them tomorrow or in the near future,” says New Delhi resident Manoj Garg.
Delhi is stating one death from COVID-19 every four minutes. Ambulances have been taking the bodies of COVID-19 victims to makeshift crematorium facilities in parks and parking lots. Dead Bodies are being burned on rows of funeral pyres.