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New Delhi Closing Amidst Steeply Rising COVID Cases

Patients suffering from the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) get treatment at the casualty ward in Lok Nayak Jai Prakash

"The rise in case numbers has been exponential in the second wave. Badly-affected cities like Delhi, Mumbai, Ahmedabad, Lucknow, Bhopal, Kolkata, Allahabad and Surat have almost run out of hospital beds. The situation is much more dire when it comes to ICU beds. Several cities have just a few dozen ICU beds left and they are now frantically trying to build extra capacity in hotels and stadiums. Multiple government hospitals in Delhi on Tuesday said their oxygen stock would last only for only few hours and “people will die” if they do not get oxygen. A list shared by the government showed that in some hospitals, oxygen will last only for four to five hours. With 277 new deaths in last 24 hours, Delhi's death toll from Covid-19 now stands at 12,638. The national capital recorded 28,395 new Covid-19 cases in highest single-day spike."

Business Standard, India

A cyclist pedals past a deserted street during a weekend lockdown in New Delhi, India, Saturday, April 17, 2021. (AP Photo/Altaf Qadri)

 The Serum Institute of India, one of the world's largest vaccine producers, has been finding it increasingly difficult to obtain the constituents it requires in the manufacture of its version of the Oxford-AstraZeneca anti-COVID vaccine. This has stalled their production lines, and forced India to stop exporting its vaccine on order to various countries around the world all desperately trying to ramp up their vaccination programs in the face of more assertively infectious mutant strains of COVID.

India finds itself, as well, in nother wave of COVID, far more serious than its previous wave, when the number of COVID cases was on the low end, a situation that has since reversed itself with a vengeance. Case numbers are so steep and ever-growing in incidence that India now has insufficient doses through its domestic manufacturing than can meet its needs. Its hospitals are overflowing with patients, many of whom are admitted to the ICUs. One in three Delhi residents are now testing positive for COVID.

Its plight is such that India intends to vaccinate its population by the first of May, starting with age 18 and up. In New Delhi, the nation's capital, the situation is so dire that the city of some 29 million people has had to take extraordinary measures in an effort to stop the coronavirus in its tracks. Of its 1.4 billion population, India has managed to date to dole out an estimated 120 doses. 

 Although experts feel that official figures are likely undercounts, the country reported over 270,000 infections on Monday alone, the steepest daily rise ever. Over 1.5 million infections resulting in over 178,000 deaths.

Lines are building up even at testing centres as cases surge    Getty Images

"I have always been against lockdowns, but this one will help us amplify the number of hospital beds in Delhi,"

"This was a difficult decision to take but we had no other option left."

"I know when lockdowns are announced, daily-wage workers suffer and lose their jobs. But I appeal to them to not leave Delhi. It's a short lockdown and we will take care of you."

Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal

The city's crematoriums are struggling to keep up   Getty Images

Labels: "Double Mutant" Rising COVID Infection Rate, COVID-19, India, New Delhi

posted by Pieface @ Wednesday, April 21, 2021