Pressure rises for India lockdown; surge breaks more records
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By Neha Mehrotra And Ashok Sharma, The Associated Press on May 7, 2021.
People watch burning funeral pyres of their relatives who died of COVID-19 in a ground that has been converted into a crematorium in New Delhi, India, Thursday, May 6, 2021. Infections in India hit another grim daily record on Thursday as demand for medical oxygen jumped seven-fold and the government denied reports that it was slow in distributing life-saving supplies from abroad. (AP Photo/Ishant Chauhan)
NEW DELHI – Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi faced growing pressure Friday to impose a strict nationwide lockdown, despite the economic pain it will exact, as a startling surge in coronavirus cases that has pummeled the country’s health system shows no signs of abating.
AP/New Delhi Filed on May 7, 2021 | Last updated on May 7, 2021 at 09.37 am
A relative of a person who died of Covid-19 reacts at a crematorium in Jammu, India. Photo: AP
India recorded a new record of 414,188 confirmed cases in the past 24 hours.
With coronavirus cases still surging to record levels, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi is facing growing pressure to impose a harsh nationwide lockdown amid a debate whether restrictions imposed by individual states are enough.
Many medical experts, opposition leaders and some of the Supreme Court judges have suggested the lockdown seems to be the only option with the virus raging in cities and towns, where hospitals are forced to turn patients away while relatives scramble to find oxygen. Crematoriums and burial grounds are struggling to handle the dead.
Barry Hatton
Italy s Prime Minister Mario Draghi, right, elbow bumps European Commissioner for An Economy that Works for People Valdis Dombrovskis as he arrives for an EU summit at the Alfandega do Porto Congress Center in Porto, Portugal, Friday, May 7, 2021. European Union leaders met for a summit in Portugal on Friday, sending a signal they see the threat from COVID-19 on their continent as waning amid a quickening vaccine rollout. Their talks hope to repair some of the damage the coronavirus has caused in the bloc, in such areas as welfare and employment. (Jose Coelho, Pool via AP) May 07, 2021 - 12:35 PM
Personal ties: Harris family in India where COVID rages
ALEXANDRA JAFFE, Associated Press
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1of11FILE - In this Nov. 8, 2020, file photo, Vice President Kamala Harris maternal uncle, Balachandran Gopalan, talks to media outside his house, in New Delhi, India.Manish Swarup/APShow MoreShow Less
2of11FILE - In this Nov. 3, 2020, file photo, a villager points out the name of Kamala Harris written in Tamil language and the amount she donated for the renovation of temple through her relative, in Thulasendrapuram village, south of Chennai, Tamil Nadu state, India. The lush green village is the hometown of Harris maternal grandfather who migrated from there decades ago.Aijaz Rahi/APShow MoreShow Less
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The possible revival of trade talks between the European Union and India could be a positive signal for Canada, which, like Europe, has struggled to convince Asia’s third-biggest economy to embrace freer trade.
Various news outlets reported this week that officials from the EU and India were getting close to announcing the resumption of trade talks that have been on ice since 2013. An agreement between the two would be a major development, as it would unite the world’s richest economic bloc with a country that is on track to leapfrog China as the most populous nation on the planet before the end of the decade.