NEW DELHI (AP) – India on Thursday reported more than 200,000 new cases of coronavirus, which shot up 14 million overall as an intensified outbreak puts a heavy burden on its fragile healthcare system.
In the capital, New Delhi, it was ordered to convert more than a dozen hotels and banquet halls for weddings into COVID-19 centers attached to hospitals.
“The rise is alarming,” said SK Sarin, a government health expert in New Delhi.
Arvind Kejriwal, Delhi’s top elected official, announced weekend curfews to break the chain of infections in the capital, which added 17,282 new cases and 104 more deaths in the previous 24 hours.
Travel to railway stations, hospitals and airports will be allowed as essential services, but shopping malls, gyms, spas and auditoriums must be closed, it said in a statement. He also said that 5,000 hospital beds are available and that more capacity is being added, so there was no shortage of beds in the capital.
The hustle and bustle of India’s largest financial city and capital, Bombay, was curtailed under curbs in the form of closure to curb the spread of the virus. The action imposed by the state of Maharashtra the hardest hit on Wednesday night closed most industries, businesses and public places and restricted the movement of people for 15 days, but did not stop train and air services.
In recent days, migrant workers carrying backpacks have surrounded crowded trains leaving Bombay, an exodus among panic-stricken day laborers.
In addition to the 200,739 new cases of infection, the Ministry of Health also reported 1,038 fatalities from COVID-19 in the last 24 hours, killing 173,123 since the pandemic began last year. .
The total number of cases in India is second behind the United States and its deaths are fourth behind the United States, Brazil and Mexico. The actual figures can be much higher with limited evidence among the nearly 1.4 billion people in India.
Shahid Jamil, a virologist, said the recent local and state elections with massive political rallies and a major Hindu festival with hundreds of thousands of devotees bathing in the Ganges River in the northern city of Haridwar were widespread events. .
India is increasing its vaccination drive. The Ministry of Health said the total vaccinations crossed 114 million with more than 3 million doses administered on Wednesday.
Hospitals in Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat and several other states were overwhelmed with patients from various hospitals who reported shortages of oxygen cylinders.
Cremation and cemeteries in the hardest-hit area were also struggling to cope with the growing number of bodies reaching the last rites, Indian media reported.
Imran Sheikh, a resident of the western city of Pune, said hospital authorities asked him to arrange an oxygen gas cylinder for his family member undergoing COVID-19 treatment.
New Delhi and dozens of other cities imposed night curfews as they battled an infection rate that nearly doubled in 11 days.
When infections began to hit India in September, many concluded that the worst had happened. Masks and social distancing were abandoned. When cases began to rise again in February, authorities were outraged.