Britain has already declared a new variant found in India to be of “concern.”
The Indian government, stung by criticism of its handling of the new crisis, has largely left individual state administrations to handle pandemic clampdowns.
While major cities such as New Delhi and Mumbai have been boosted by extra supplies of oxygen — much of it from abroad — and new hospital beds opened up, the southern states of Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Kerala have all ordered lockdowns to counter an explosion in cases.
In this picture taken on May 5, 2021, an employee checks medical oxygen cylinders for the COVID-19 coronavirus patients at Kalinga oxygen refilling center in Moradabad (Prakash SINGH / AFP)