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News > India

India: New Delhi on the Verge of Sanitary Collapse

  • India has reported yet another new record of daily coronavirus cases- 261,500 - as hospitals in the capital, New Delhi, and other parts of the country overflow with patients and experts warn the healthcare system is teetering on the brink of collapse.

    India has reported yet another new record of daily coronavirus cases- 261,500 - as hospitals in the capital, New Delhi, and other parts of the country overflow with patients and experts warn the healthcare system is teetering on the brink of collapse. | Photo: Twitter @fascinatorfun

Published 19 April 2021
Opinion

The Indian capital, New Delhi,  with a population exceeding 20 million people, has fewer than 100 beds available to care for critical COVID-19 patients.

New Delhi, India's capital, recorded 25,500 cases of coronavirus in 24 hours, and approximately one in three people tested positive, warned Arvind Kejriwal, the local chief executive. He urged the government to provide more hospital bed capacity.

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Fewer than 100 intensive care beds were available Saturday in India's capital of more than 20 million people, Kejriwal said, as social media was flooded with complaints about a lack of beds, medical oxygen, and medicines.

"The most worrying thing is that in the last 24 hours, the positivity rate has gone up to about 30 percent from 24 percent (...) Cases are going up very fast. Beds are filling up fast," said the official, who stated that 65 percent of the patients are under 45 years old.

In a separate statement, the city government said it had informed Prime Minister Narendra Modi's federal administration about "the dire need for beds and oxygen."

With a population of 1.3 billion, India reported 261,500 new cases yesterday, bringing the total number of infections to nearly 14.8 million, second only to the United States, which has reported more than 31 million infections.

Covid-19 deaths in the country rose by a record 1,501 to 177,150. New Delhi, which has imposed a curfew over the weekend, is one of the hardest-hit cities in India, where the second wave of coronavirus infections is straining the health infrastructure.

Mumbai remains under curfew every day under state guidelines, but New Delhi has allowed movie theaters to operate at 30 percent capacity and people to move freely during weekdays.

While cases are on the rise across India, criticism is growing over the federal government's handling of the health crisis, and religious festivals and election rallies attended by thousands of people continue. The Indian government relaxed almost all restrictions at the beginning of 2021. However, some regions, such as New Delhi and the state of Maharashtra, home to Mumbai's financial center, have introduced localized measures.

The toll from the pandemic is 3 million 15,268 dead and 141 million 36,588 infected and 80 million 517,822 people recovered, according to the Johns Hopkins University count.

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