Germany mourns its 80,000 Covid dead; Coronavirus crisis deepens across India
World
April 19, 2021
New Delhi: More government hospital beds will be freed for Covid-19 patients, India’s health ministry said Sunday, as the vast nation grappled with a worsening virus crisis and states appealed for additional supplies of oxygen and treatment drugs.
The country of 1.3 billion people added a record-high of 261,500 new cases on Sunday, with one-in-six people who underwent tests returning positive coronavirus results, the ministry said.
India is the world’s second most-infected nation with almost 14.8 million cases. Hospitals usually reserved for employees of ministries or public sector companies should convert some of their wards into Covid-19 facilities equipped with ICU and oxygen-supported beds, ventilators, laboratories and healthcare staff, the government said.
GERMAN Chancellor Angela Merkel places a candle during the ceremony for coronavirus victims. AFP
BERLIN: Germany held a national memorial service on Sunday for its nearly 80,000 victims of the coronavirus pandemic, putting aside deep divisions over Covid restrictions to share the pain of grieving families.
Chancellor Angela Merkel and President Frank-Walter Steinmeier joined an ecumenical service in the morning at Berlin’s Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church, a memorial against war and destruction.
They will later attend a ceremony at the capital’s Konzerthaus concert hall, where the president will make a speech.
“Sickness, dying and death cannot be just pushed away in this long year, they have cut deeply into the lives of many people,” said Georg Baetzing, the chairman of the German Bishops’ Conference, at the morning service.
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In a dialogue with the president earlier this year, relatives of coronavirus victims voiced their loneliness.
Michaela Mengel broke down in tears as she recalled her daughter s last minutes as she died from the coronavirus in hospital. Last time I saw her alive was on Christmas Eve when I had to leave the hospital. She had oxygen piped into her nose, she looked at me with her big eyes, Mengel told the president. Since she could not talk I told her, bye my dear, I love you, mama will be back.
Steinmeier stressed that it was important to look beyond the daily victim counts.