A look at the biggest Covid-19 developments of the day. May 09, 2021 · 09:06 pm Security personnel guard a roadblock during a lockdown imposed to curb the spread of the Covid-19 in New Delhi on April 29. | Tauseef Mustafa/AFP
India on Sunday registered 4,03,738 new coronavirus cases in the last 24 hours, taking the tally of infections in the country to 2,22,96,414 since the pandemic broke out last year. The country’s toll climbed by 4,092 deaths to 2,42,362. India now has over 37 lakh active cases and 1,83,17,404 recoveries.
Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal announced that his administration had decided to extend the lockdown in the Capital till May 17. The chief minister also announced that the Delhi Metro will stop operations from Monday. Uttar Pradesh also extended the partial curbs in the state till 7 am on May 17 amid a surge in daily infections. Jammu and Kashmir too extended lockdown in all 20 districts till May 17.
ISSUE DATE: May 17, 2021
UPDATED: May 7, 2021 21:47 IST
Bodies are lined up for the final rites before being consigned to the flames at the Hari Nagar crematorium in Delhi on May 2; Photo by Yasir Iqbal
Massed pyres and serpentine queues of shrouded bodies. Gasping, terrified men and women pleading to be accepted as patients. The broken and bereaved mourning their dead. In New Delhi today, as in any Indian metro, the roads are silent, the bazaars are shuttered. But approach any hospital and you’ll rediscover the familiar clamour of the Indian street, rising to a crescendo in the once hushed ICUs now rent with the shouts and moans of the desperate and the dying. Of course most of us are hunkered in our homes, carpeing our diems and visiting such scenes through our screens when we’re not fielding calls and text messages from family and friends, or friends of friends, pleading for a hospital bed, an oxygen cylinder, Remdesivir, more oxygen. Expressing our sympathies on Facebook a
Infections and deaths continue to climb at alarming rates as India’s second COVID-19 wave threatens to topple its healthcare system.
India, the world’s second-most populous country, with 1.4 billion people, has been setting daily records for new cases. It has become a land of misery, countless funeral pyres and urgent calls for its large diaspora to send help.
The country accounted for nearly half of new infections recorded worldwide last week. At least 234,083 Indians are confirmed to have died of COVID-19, though the actual number is believed to be much higher because of underreporting.
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India’s leaders thought they had contained the virus after seeing cases dip at the start of the year. Social restrictions were loosened, sparking a surge in infections in March that led to a near collapse of the country’s healthcare system amid a dearth of vaccines.