INDIA LOGS 400,000 COVID CASES; MODI PLEADS FOR HELP

India saw a grim global record of 401,993 daily COVID-19 cases on Saturday even as it struggled to conduct the biggest round of its vaccination drive despite a shortage of doses, Siddhartha Kumar reported for Deutsche Presse-Agentur (dpa).

The new infections took the country’s caseload past 19 million. The total death toll stands at nearly 212,000 with COVID-19 claiming 3,523 lives in the past 24 hours, government data showed. Hit by a second wave of the pandemic, India is the first country to cross 400,000 daily cases after it reported 300,000 daily infections for nine straight days.

The virus surge has overwhelmed health care systems, with reports that several patients have died outside hospitals for want of hospital beds or medical oxygen.

In a hearing on the matter, the Delhi High Court came down heavily on the government and ordered it to ensure oxygen supplies "by whatever means," the IANS news agency reported.

"Water has gone above the head. You have to arrange everything now. You have made the allocations. You have to fulfill them. Eight lives have been lost. We can’t shut our eyes to it," the court told the government counsel, warning of contempt proceedings against officials if the orders were not obeyed.

Premier Narendra Modi on Friday evening held a cabinet meeting to discuss measures to save the health infrastructure by adding hospital beds and tackling shortages of medical oxygen and anti-viral drugs.

Emphasizing that the surge in COVID-19 infections marked a "once in a century crisis" and a "big challenge for the world," Modi asked his ministers to help people. Several nations, including the US, Britain, Germany, and Japan have pledged support to India during the crisis.

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