India nears 20m COVID cases as Europe eyes reopening
By AFP - May 04,2021 - Last updated at May 04,2021
A medical worker inoculates a woman wearing a personal protective quiopment suit with a dose of the Covishield COVID-19 coronavirus vaccine at Max hospital in New Delhi on Monday (AFP photo)
NEW DELHI India s total COVID-19 caseload neared 20 million and oxygen shortages exacerbated a devastating second wave on Monday, as the EU proposed new rules that could allow travellers who are fully vaccinated to enter the bloc.
Cases have soared by around eight million since the end of March, with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi under growing pressure to take decisive action to reverse the surge.
India crosses 20m corona cases as Europe eyes opening up surge
Top Story
May 4, 2021
NEW DELHI: India´s total COVID-19 caseload crossed 20 million and oxygen shortages exacerbated a devastating second wave on Monday, as the EU proposed new rules that could allow travellers who are fully vaccinated to enter the bloc.
Cases have soared by around eight million since the end of March, with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi under growing pressure to take decisive action to reverse the surge. As many as 318,066 new cases were reported in India on Monday and 2,721 deaths, with total cases reaching 20,237,781.
Scores died over the weekend in hospitals hit by shortages that have forced clinics in the capital New Delhi to send urgent appeals for help on social media.
Modi Fights Pressure to Lock Down India as Virus Deaths Rise Bloomberg 3 hrs ago
(Bloomberg)
Two weeks ago, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi called on states to only consider lockdowns “as the last option.” Now everyone from his political allies to top business leaders and U.S. President Joe Biden’s chief medical adviser see them as the only way to stem the world’s worst virus outbreak.
The debate has been complicated by Modi’s move last year to impose a nationwide lockdown without warning, spurring a humanitarian crisis as migrant workers fled on foot to rural areas. While Modi is keen to avoid that criticism again, particularly after his Bharatiya Janata Party failed to win an election in West Bengal when votes were counted Sunday, even states run by his party are ignoring his advice.
UNICEF director calls on the world to send more supplies to India
From CNN s Pamela Boykoff CNN
UNICEF has sent supplies to India but they are not enough, Executive Director Henrietta Fore told CNN’s Richard Quest.
“We are calling on the world to help us,” she said. “And then, because India is such an enormous vaccine manufacturing component of the world s supply chain, we need to get India back into the business of making vaccines for the world.”
She called on countries to lift import and export restrictions related to vaccines, to support the ability to manufacture vaccines in other locations and to consider licensing some production technologies.
India’s second wave of COVID has quickly turned into one of the worst outbreaks in the world. Since early March, official cases and deaths have skyrocketed, recently breaking world records on an almost daily basis. Meanwhile, Indian officials are warning the country’s health care system cannot keep up with the deluge of patients as supplies run thin, exposing India’s ailing health infrastructure. USIP’s Tamanna Salikuddin and Vikram Singh look at the origins of India’s second wave, its far-reaching consequences in the global fight against COVID and what the international community can and should do to help India weather the storm.