India’s Ministry of Health and Family Welfare data showed that the country has added 200,739 infections over the last 24 hours – a seventh daily record surge in the last eight days. The 1,038 deaths during the same span took India’s COVID-19 death toll to 173,123.
“The situation is horrible,” said Avinash Gawande, an official at a government hospital in the industrial city of Nagpur that was battling a flood of patients. “We are a 900-bed hospital, but there are about 60 patients waiting and we don’t have space for them.”
A similar scene is happening more than 9,000 miles away in Brazil. Just over a week ago, Brazil recorded 4,195 deaths in one day. It came close to the peak U.S. daily death toll of 4,476 recorded on Jan. 12, according to data from
Passengers arrive at Guwahati Railway station and wait in queue to test for COVID-19 coronavirus.
Photo: AFP
The surge was the seventh record daily increase in the last eight days and comes as India battles a massive second wave of infections that has its epicentre in the economically-significant state of Maharashtra, home to Mumbai. The western state accounts for about a quarter of the country s total cases.
India reported 200,739 Covid-19 cases over the last 24 hours, according to health ministry data released today. Deaths stood at 1038, taking the total to 173,123.
The total case load reached 14.1 million, second only to the United States which leads the global tally with 31.4 million cases.
Hospitals Short of Beds as Virus Cases Surge across Asia
3 hours ago
Health workers help a patient shift from a dedicated COVID-19 hospital to another hospital, in Ahmedabad, India, Thursday, April 15, 2021. India reported more than 200,000 new coronavirus cases Thursday. (AP Photo/Ajit Solanki)
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A new wave of COVID-19 infections, combined with limited hospital beds and vaccines, is threatening countries across Asia.
Both India and Thailand reported record daily coronavirus cases Thursday.
India locked down its two largest cities, New Delhi and Mumbai, as the country passed 200,000 daily infections for the first time. Hospitals reported few remaining beds and limited oxygen supplies.
By APARAJIT CHAKRABORTY in New Delhi | China Daily | Updated: 2021-04-16 09:29 Share CLOSE A police officer keeps crowds under control at Mumbai s Lokmanya Tilak Terminus on Wednesday. Health officials are worried by a lack of social distancing in India s big cities. RAFIQ MAQBOOL/ASSOCIATED PRESS
India is struggling to cope with a surge in coronavirus infections, logging a record 200,000 new cases on Thursday.
With many hospitals reporting severe shortages of beds and oxygen supplies, India this week overtook Brazil as the country with the second-highest number of COVID-19 cases－behind only the United States. More than 14 million Indians have been infected, health ministry data shows.
NEW DELHI: Many Indian hospitals were scrambling for beds and oxygen as Covid-19 infections surged to a new daily record on Thursday, with a second wave of infections centred on the rich western state of Maharashtra.
India’s tally of total infections is second only to the United States, with experts blaming everything from official complacency to aggressive variants. The government has blamed failure to practise physical distancing.
The country has been producing oxygen at full capacity for each of the last two days but will have to turn to imports, with the health ministry saying it was planning to import 50,000 metric tons.