Indians rush for vaccines as Covid toll tops 200,000
Reuters/Mumbai
AFP
Second wave of infections has seen at least 300,000 people test positive each day.
Indians struggled to register online for a mass vaccination drive set to begin at the weekend as the country s toll from the coronavirus surged past 200,000 on Wednesday, worsened by shortages of hospital beds and medical oxygen.
The second wave of infections has seen at least 300,000 people test positive each day for the past week, overwhelming health facilities and crematoriums and prompting an increasingly urgent response from allies overseas sending equipment.
The last 24 hours brought 360,960 new cases for the world s largest single-day total, taking India s tally of infections to nearly 18 million. It was also the deadliest day so far, with 3,293 fatalities carrying the toll to 201,187.
Indians struggled to register online for a mass vaccination drive set to begin at the weekend as the country's toll from the coronavirus surged past 200,000 on Wednesday
India's Covid cases passed 18m after another world record daily infection and death tally and as the govt rejected reports of problems with its vaccine campaign.
Norway has announced a contribution of 20 million Norwegian Kroners (USD 2.4 million) towards Covid relief in India, to be channelled through the World Health Organization and the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies.
WMO joins Emergency Alerting Call to Action
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WMO has joined with the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) and the International Telecommunications Union (ITU) to issue a joint Call to Action to improve availability and use of standardized emergency alerts.
The heads of the three organizations endorsed the call to “collectively scale up our efforts to ensure that by 2025 all countries have the capability for effective, authoritative emergency alerting that leverages the Common Alerting Protocol (CAP), suitable for all media and all hazards.”
Every year, disasters lead to tragic loss of lives and livelihoods. Too much of this is due to ineffective public warning: emergency alerts that are not timely enough, not understandable enough, or fail to reach everyone at risk. Yet, these tragic losses could be reduced through the Common Alerting Protocol.