India reels amid virus surge, affecting world vaccine supply
By SHEIKH SAALIQ and ANIRUDDHA GHOSALApril 13, 2021 GMT
NEW DELHI (AP) The Indian city of Pune is running out of ventilators as gasping coronavirus patients crowd its hospitals. Social media is full of people searching for beds, while relatives throng pharmacies looking for antiviral medicines that hospitals ran out of long ago.
The surge, which can be seen across India, is particularly alarming because the country is a major vaccine producer and a critical supplier to the U.N.-backed COVAX initiative. That program aims to bring shots to some of the world’s poorest countries. Already the rise in cases has forced India to focus on satisfying its domestic demand and delay deliveries to COVAX and elsewhere, including the United Kingdom and Canada.
The surge, which can be seen across India, is particularly alarming because the country is a major vaccine producer and a critical supplier to the U.N.-backed COVAX initiative.
NEW DELHI The Indian city of Pune is running out of ventilators as gasping coronavirus patients crowd its hospitals. Social media is full of people searching for beds, while relatives throng pharmacies looking for antiviral medicines that hospitals ran out of long ago. The surge, which can be seen across India, is particularly alarming because the country is a major vaccine producer and a critical supplier to the UN-backed COVAX initiative. That program aims to bring shots to some of the world s poorest countries. Already the rise in cases has forced India to focus on satisfying its domestic demand and delay deliveries to COVAX and elsewhere, including the United Kingdom and Canada.