India’s latest wave worsens, accounting for nearly half of global Covid cases
India accounted for one in four global Covid-19 deaths last week, the World Health Organisation (WHO) said today, as the UK pledged to send 1,000 ventilators in aid on Sunday.
The WHO said in its weekly epidemiological report that India accounted for 46 per cent of global cases and 25 per cent of global deaths reported in the past week.
Seeing nearly half of worldwide infections, the country’s deaths have risen by a record 3,780 during the last 24 hours.
Daily infections have soared by 382,315 today alone, health ministry data showed, marking two weeks of over 300,000 cases daily.
This is India’s second spike of Covid-19, which has seen hospitals runs out of beds and oxygen, leaving morgues and crematoriums without capacity.
On Sunday, England chief medical officer Chris Whitty and chief scientific advisor Sir Patrick Vallance offered “help and advice” to their Indian counterparts, Downing Street said.
The UK’s wave advice comes after the UK sent 200 ventilators, 495 oxygen concentrators and 3 oxygen generation units to India last week.
Prime minister Narendra Modi’s government has been subject to wide criticism for not acting sooner to suppress the second wave of the virus, as religious festivals and political rallies attracted tens of thousands of people.
The latest wave has collided with a sudden lack of vaccines, due to supply and delivery problems, which has scuppered its vaccination programme.