India recorded more than 2,000 deaths from Covid-19 on Wednesday April 21 and nearly 300,000 new cases in 24 hours, which represents one of the highest daily tolls in the world since the start of the pandemic, according to official data.
Figures from the Ministry of Health indicate that 295,000 new cases have been identified in the past 24 hours, bringing the total to 15.6 million infections in India.
A total of 2,023 deaths have been recorded, bringing the total toll of the pandemic to 182,553 dead in the country.
Read also: Indian variant: should flights be suspended and a quarantine imposed with India?
In a televised address Tuesday evening, April 20, Narendra Modi, Indian Prime Minister, asked his compatriots to do more to face the coronavirus in order to avoid new confinements in the country, in the grip of a serious health crisis linked to a virulent second epidemic wave. In this first televised intervention since the explosion in the number of contaminations, Narendra Modi acknowledged that India, a country of 1.3 billion inhabitants, was
fighting
"
once again a big battle
". “
The situation was under control a few weeks ago and the second wave came like a hurricane,
” he said.
Despite its overcrowded cities and the dilapidated health system, India has so far managed to emerge relatively unscathed from a pandemic that has killed more than three million people around the world. But the past few weeks have been marked by mass rallies. Millions of people participated in the Hindu religious festival Kumbh Mela, political rallies, lavish weddings and sporting events. According to the press, the production of essential drugs against the coronavirus has been slowed down or even suspended in some factories and tenders for oxygen production factories have been delayed. Today, distraught relatives are forced to pay exorbitant prices on the black market for medicine and oxygen,and WhatsApp groups are inundated with desperate calls for help.
Delhi's chief minister Arvind Kejriwal, who self-isolated Tuesday after his wife tested positive, tweeted late Tuesday that some hospitals in the megalopolis had "
only a few hours of oxygen
" in reserve. The United States now advises against travel to India, even for fully vaccinated people, while Britain has added India to its "
red list
". Hong Kong and New Zealand have banned flights from India.
