India has reported a record number of coronavirus cases for the fifth day in a row, with a second wave pushing its health-care system to the brink.
There were some 352,991 new cases of Covid-19 reported in the last 24 hours, seeing India’s total number of infections top 17 million, with 5 million cases counted in April alone. At least 2,182 people have died from the virus in the last 24 hours, taking the South Asian nation’s death toll to over 195,000, though media reports indicate the official figure is being understated.
Before the second wave, India was reporting an average of around 10,000 new cases a day. Its government has been criticized for allowing religious festivals and election rallies to go ahead this year.
India’s hospitals have run out of beds and are suffering an extreme shortage of oxygen to treat patients.
A patient sits inside an ambulance waiting to enter a Covid hospital for treatment
A man runs past the burning funeral pyres of those who died from Covid
A man prepares a funeral pyre to cremate a body
Medical staff attends to a person in a temporary care center
A man wearing an outfit resembling the Covid virus moves around a marketplace urging people to follow safety protocols
A worker disinfects nozzles of oxygen cylinders as they are refilled in a factory
Umar Farooq mourns over the body of his mother, who died of Covid, before her burial at a graveyard in Srinagar
People wait to cremate those who died due to the coronavirus in New Delhi
A doctor tends to a patient’s breathing problem inside an ambulance as she waits to enter a Covid hospital
People wearing protective face masks wait to receive a vaccine in Mumbai
People cremate the bodies of coronavirus victims at a crematorium ground in New Delhi
Rickshaw drivers hold oxygen cylinders outside a private refilling station
A patient breathes with the help of oxygen provided by a Gurdwara, a place of worship for Sikhs, inside an auto rickshaw
A woman is consoled after her husband died
A man carrying wood walks past the funeral pyres of those who died from the coronavirus disease
A man wearing personal protective equipment stands next to funeral pyres
A view of multiple funeral pyres at Nigambodh Ghat crematorium in New Delhi
Health workers carry bodies of victims
Relatives carry the body of a man during his funeral in New Delhi
Family members sit next to the burning funeral pyres of coronavirus victims in New Delhi
Source: Business - cnbc.com
