As a devastating second wave of the virus overwhelms India, the country’s under-funded, vulnerable healthcare system, is reporting an unprecedented number of coronavirus cases – and deaths – amid an increasing shortage of medical oxygen and beds in its hospitals.
The world’s second-most populated country posted a single-day peak of approximately 332,730 new cases and 2,263 deaths on Friday.
Hospitals in northern and western India, including the capital New Delhi, are stating that they are overburdened and running out of oxygen.
According to Indian media sources, at least 25 patients died in the last 24 hours after running out of oxygen supply at a hospital in the capital, New Delhi.
For the second day in a row, India has set a new daily mark for coronavirus cases, with daily deaths from COVID-19 also setting a new peak.
India’s cumulative caseload has now surpassed 16 million with the addition of 332,730 new cases. According to statistics from the Ministry of Health, deaths increased by 2,263 to a total of 186,920.
On Thursday, India reported 314,835 new infections, breaking the previous high of 297,430 set by the United States in January. Since then, the number of people killed in the United States has decreased.
An official said that a fire in a hospital’s intensive care unit (ICU) in Maharashtra, western India, killed 13 COVID-19 patients.
According to Dilip Shah, CEO of Vijay Vallabh hospital in the Virar district, about 70 kilometers (43 miles) north of Mumbai, the fire on the second floor of the hospital has been extinguished, and some patients needing oxygen have been transferred to nearby hospitals.
The hospital has 90 beds, according to Shah, and the origin of the fire is being examined.
On Wednesday, 24 COVID-sponsored events were held.
When their oxygen supply was disrupted by a leak in a supply line in a hospital in Nashik, Maharashtra, 19 patients on ventilators died.
