India recorded 3,645 new deaths from Covid-19 on Thursday, 350 more than the day before: a new record for this country severely hit by a second epidemic wave, according to figures from the Ministry of Health.
The country is now deploring 204,832 deaths from the coronavirus, but many experts believe the real toll is much higher.
India has recorded nearly 380,000 new infections in the past 24 hours, once again breaking a world record.
In April alone, the country counted more than six million new cases of Covid-19.
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This exponential upsurge, attributed in part to the new so-called Indian variant, as well as to the gathering of crowds on the occasion of political and religious events, overwhelmed hospitals now short of beds, medicines and oxygen.
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In an interview with the Indian Express newspaper, the government's chief scientific adviser, Professor K. Vijay Raghavan, admitted that the government could have done more to prepare for this second wave.
"Not possible" to amplify the capacities of the health system in one year
“The central and state governments put considerable effort into strengthening the hospital and health care infrastructure during the first wave […] But when that wave declined, maybe so did. even with the sense of urgency to get on with the job, ”he said.
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However, "it is simply not possible to amplify the capacities of a public health system in one year to a level sufficient to cope with what we are seeing today," he added.
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The health crisis is particularly serious in New Delhi, where people are dying at the doors of crowded hospitals.
