Wed 21 Apr 2021 07.15 EDT
Last modified on Wed 21 Apr 2021 10.27 EDT
Looking out over a sea of jostling, maskless faces gathered at a political rally in West Bengal on Saturday, the Indian prime minister, Narendra Modi, proudly proclaimed that he had ânever ever seen such huge crowdsâ. A mask was also noticeably absent from Modiâs face.
That same day, India registered a record-breaking 234,000 new coronavirus cases and 1,341 deaths â and the numbers have kept rising since.
The country has descended into a tragedy of unprecedented proportions. Almost 1.6 million cases have been registered in a week, bringing total cases to more than 15 million. In the space of just 12 days, the Covid positivity rate doubled to 17%, while in Delhi it hit 30%. Hospitals across the country have filled to capacity but this time it is predominately the young taking up the beds; in Delhi, 65% of cases are under 40 years old.