People infected with coronavirus are dying in the streets, bodies are piling up at crematoriums and hospitals are running out of oxygen and beds as India’s crisis spirals out of control.
During a second wave described as a “tsunami”, infected people have been wandering the streets looking for hospitals with open beds, morgues have run out of stretchers and trees from parks were to be used to burn bodies.
There is a frantic hunt for oxygen, which is being sold on the black market, to keep seriously ill relatives alive, and people hoarding supplies have sparked panic and shortages in hospitals.
Grim stories have emerged as the world’s worst Covid-19 outbreak worsened on Monday, with infections hitting a world record peak (352,991) for the fifth day in a row and deaths reaching an all-time high of more than 2,800.
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India has reported almost three million active cases. However, the true figures are thought to be much higher, with modelling suggesting that as many as 15,000 people are dying every day.
With a population of 1.3 billion, the country has a tally of 17.31 million infections and 195,123 deaths since the pandemic began more than a year ago.
The UK, Germany and the US are sending urgent medical aid – including oxygen and ventilators – to battle a devastating second wave that has spiralled out of control this month.
The Government letting its guard down, the easing of restrictions, mass election rallies and large religious gatherings have been cited among the reasons for the surge in cases.
Patients die as oxygen runs out
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In the north-western city of Hisar, protesters gathered outside a hospital after five coronavirus patients died on Monday morning.
Their distraught families claimed a shortage of oxygen was to blame.
It was the third incident in just 24 hours in the state of Haryana, where 10,000 new cases were reported in a day, NDTV reported.
At the weekend, 20 patients died at a hospital in Jaipur, four died at a hospital in Gurgaon and four died at a hospital Rewari amid alleged shortages of oxygen.
In New Delhi, 24 patients died at a hospital due to low oxygen pressure on Friday.
One person is dying every four minutes in the capital, where nearly all intensive care unit beds are occupied.
Hospitals in New Delhi have sent SOS messages for resources, saying they were unable to cope with the rush of patients.
A spokesman for the Sir Ganga Ram Hospital in the capital told Reuters: “Currently, the hospital is in beg-and-borrow mode and it is an extreme crisis situation.”
Demand for oxygen has risen more than 20 per cent nationally, with many turning to a thriving black market, where they are being charged exorbitant prices, to keep loved ones alive.
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Anshu Priya told the BBC she spent most of Sunday looking for an oxygen cylinder for her father-in-law as his condition deteriorated, but she couldn’t find one or an available hospital bed.
She ended up paying the hefty amount of 50,000 rupees (£480) – more than eight times the normal price – for a cylinder on the black market.
Dr Randeep Guleria, the director of India’s Institute of Medical Sciences, said: “Hoarding of injections like Remdesivir and oxygen in homes is creating a panic and this hoarding is causing a shortage of these medicines.”
Siddiqui Ahmad took his 32-year-old son to an official oxygen supplier to beg for air. His mother sobbed as she spoke to Sky News: “He’s been turned away from everywhere. No one would help.”
Makeshift crematoriums
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In New Delhi and other cities that are struggling, bodies were being burnt in makeshift facilities offering mass services.
So many bodies are being cremated in the capital that the authorities are receiving requests to start cutting down trees in parks to be used as kindling.
NDTV broadcast images of three health workers in the eastern state of Bihar pulling a body along the ground on its way to cremation, as stretchers ran short.
Grim photos show bodies being carried as funeral pyres burn at crematorium grounds.
Record case and death totals
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The daily number of infections topped 300,000 for the fifth consecutive day, with the total number of positive cases passing 17 million.
There were 352,991 new confirmed cases and more than 2,800 deaths in the last 24 hours.
But the true totals are thought to be much higher.
The badly-hit Bengaluru, in the southern Karnataka state, has the most active cases in the country, with 162,171, after reporting 17,342 in the latest 24-hour period.
More than 1,000 people have died in the district in the last month.
New Delhi has 93,080 active cases and Mumbai has 78,775.
Almost 15,000 could be dying every day
(Image: Naveen Sharma/SOPA Images/REX/Shutterstock)
Bhramar Mukherjee, an epidemiologist at the University of Michigan in the US, said the true death toll could be two to five times what is being reported.
Almost 3,000 daily deaths have been reported in recent days.
Ms Mukherjee said a “massacre of data” has resulted in an underreporting of infections and deaths.
She said: “From all the modelling we’ve done, we believe the true number of deaths is two to five times what is being reported.”
Why has the second wave been so bad?
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Confirmed cases began to rise in February and they have soared to record levels this month as the second wave spreads faster than the first.
India has been accused of letting its guard down when infections fell after the first wave.
Most public places have reopened and there have been mass election rallies attended by tens of thousands of people, as well as large religious gatherings.
Dr A Fathahudeen, a member of Kerala state’s Covid taskforce, told the BBC there were warning signs in February but “we did not get our act together”.
Dr Fathahudeen added: “I said in February that Covid had not gone anywhere and a tsunami would hit us if urgent actions were not taken. Sadly, a tsunami has indeed hit us now.
“A false sense of normalcy crept in and everybody, including people and officials, did not take measures to stop the second wave.”
What is the government doing?
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Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who has been condemned for holding mass election rallies without basic precautions, urged all citizens to get vaccinated and exercise caution.
He warned that the country is facing a “storm” of infections as the country turned to the rest of the world for help.
Pop-up hospitals are being set up in some places that have run out of beds.
In New Delhi, the regional government announced it would give free vaccines to everyone above 18 in a bid to slow the surge in infections.
The capital’s lockdown has been extended to May 3.
Several states, including Maharashtra, the richest, halted vaccinations in some places on Sunday, saying supplies had run out.
Vaccine makers have struggled to boost output, partly because of a shortage of raw material and a fire at a facility making the AstraZeneca dose.
Inoculations peaked at 4.5 million doses on April 5 and have since averaged about 2.7 million a day, government figures show.
Nationwide, almost 142 million people have received at least one dose of a Covid vaccine.
What are other countries doing to help?
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Britain, Germany, France, the United States and Singapore are among those who have pledged to send urgent medical aid to help battle the crisis overwhelming India’s hospitals.
Boris Johnson was forced to cancel a trip to India due to the crisis.
He vowed to “stand side-by-side” with India as the UK sends 495 oxygen concentrators, 120 non-invasive ventilators and 20 manual ventilators.
The first delivery will arrive on Tuesday.
Defence Secretary Ben Wallace said the Covid-19 pressures in India were becoming “unbearable” and that the UK would “do everything we can to alleviate their suffering”.
He told Sky News on Monday: “The United Kingdom is going to send to India oxygen compressors and ventilators, things that are really needed in the now.
“If you remember, we commissioned a huge number of ventilators to alleviate the pressure on our hospitals – it is only right that we share and help them in their time of need.”
Asked whether he wished the decision had been taken sooner to provide aid to India, the Cabinet minister replied: “It is not like we just woke up this morning and thought we’d do it, it has been properly worked out and planned with the Indian government and made sure it became available as soon as needed
“If necessary, we’ll put military planes together there or charter other planes – we’ll do everything we can to alleviate their suffering.”