By Spy Uganda Correspondent
India has recorded more than 20 million Covid infections but the government says that cases are “slowing down”.
The country added more than 355,000 cases on Tuesday, down from more than 400,000 daily cases reported on 30 April.
Meanwhile, an oxygen shortage has shown no signs of abating, and people in several hot spot cities, including the capital Delhi, are struggling for treatment.
India’s second wave, fueled by lax safety protocols and massive public festivals and election rallies, has also overwhelmed its hospitals. Delays in testing, diagnosis, and treatment, as well as a shortage of critical care beds and crucial drugs, have resulted in a spike in deaths too.
The country has so far reported more than 222,000 deaths due to the virus however, experts say India’s Covid death toll is vastly under-reported as official tallies don’t appear to match what people are witnessing on the ground – long lines at crematoriums, mass funeral pyres, and cities running out of space to bury or cremate the dead.
Many states have introduced restrictions, from full lockdowns to night curfews. The northern state of Bihar, which has been adding about 13,000 daily cases in recent days, is the latest to announce a full lockdown -only essential services, such as government offices, groceries, and hospitals, will be open
It’s India’s most populated state, with more than 220 million people and is doing about 184,000 tests per million people. Compare that to Tamil Nadu, which has about 75 million people and is doing more than 300,000 tests per million of its population.
Health officials said there was “cautious hope” of some respite from the second wave. But Lav Agarwal, joint secretary of the health ministry, said that the “gains” were very early and needed to be sustained by “containment measures at district and state level”.
Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal has repeatedly said that the city is not getting enough oxygen from the federal government, which allocates oxygen quotas to states.
But federal officials deny there are shortages, saying the challenge has come from transportation.
India produces thousands of tonnes of oxygen a day, but some experts say the supply crunch comes from a lack of investment in distribution networks.
Delhi hospitals have resorted to sending SOS messages on social media to secure supplies. For residents, hours spent in queues to top up portable canisters have become part of daily life.
Officials have also been urged to find more sites for cremations as the city’s morgues and crematoriums are overwhelmed by masses of Covid deaths.
Since January, India has administered more than 157 million vaccine doses so far – it ranks third in the world, after China and the United States. But just over 10% of India’s 1.4 billion people have had one dose and only about 2% have got both doses.
Despite being the world’s biggest producer of vaccines, India is facing a shortage of supplies. And vaccination rates are down, from 3.7 million doses a day about a month ago to just 1.7 million a day.
The chief executive of India’s Serum Institute, the world’s biggest vaccine manufacturer, has warned shortages will last for months. It’s set to deliver 220 million doses over the next few months, which would still only cover 8 percent of India’s population.
The Indian government is reported to be in discussions with Pfizer, which is seeking an “expedited approval pathway” for its Covid-19 vaccine.
