India sets another grim COVID record; Modi calls review meeting
With the toll rising, crematoriums and burial grounds in various cities have come under pressure. Long queues of family members were reported in Delhi, Lucknow, Varanasi, Bhopal and Patna
The novel coronavirus’ grim march across India continued on Saturday with the country reporting 2,34,692 fresh infections – the sharpest every 24-hour spike – and 1,341 deaths.
With the toll rising, crematoriums and burial grounds in various cities have come under pressure. Long queues of family members were reported in Delhi, Lucknow, Varanasi, Bhopal and Patna.
Also read: As COVID death toll rises, crematoriums, burial grounds come under pressure
In view of the escalating crisis Prime Minister Narendra Modi spoke to Swami Avdheshanand Giri of Juna Akhara, one of biggest akharas in the country, and urged him to keep the ongoing Kumbh Mela, in Haridwar, “symbolic”. Hours after the appeal, Giri announced an early end to the month-long festival.
Modi also called another review meeting in the evening with top officials from various ministries to review the situation.
Earlier in the day, Union Health Minister Dr Harsh Vardhan met counterparts from 11 states – Maharashtra, Chhattisgarh, Rajasthan, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Kerala, West Bengal, Delhi, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Uttar Pradesh – to review measures for prevention, containment and management of cases. The states urged the Centre to increase supply of oxygen cylinders, vaccine doses and the antiviral medication Remdesivir.
Also read: Delhi records 24,000 COVID cases in a day; Kejriwal calls situation ‘alarming’
“Many of them raised the issue of dovetailing the medical oxygen supply lines and capping of prices of essential drugs like Remdesivir, which has been sold in the black market at exorbitant prices. Double mutant strain in Maharashtra was a key point of concern. The Delhi government requested for additional beds in central government hospitals, as was done in 2020 to help tide over the emergent health crisis,” the Union health ministry said after the meeting.
Following the central government’s intervention, several manufacturers reduced prices of Remdesivir.
Meanwhile, the global toll from the coronavirus surged past 3 million mark, according to a count by John Hopkins University. The United States, Brazil and Mexico lead the world in COVID-19 deaths, followed by India and the UK.
In India Maharashtra continued to be the worst-affected states, with 6,39,642 active cases, followed by Uttar Pradesh (1,50,676) and Chattisgarh (1,24,303).
But the surge was not restricted to Maharashtra, UP and Chhattisgarh. Over the past 10 days, the virus has also run rampant in the four states and one Union territory that held elections.
West Bengal (where the election is not yet over), Assam, Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Pondicherry all saw a steep rise in cases after April 6, the busiest day in the poll schedule for the five assemblies, according to Ministry of Health data.
Going into the weekend, more than half the country was facing some kind of restrictions as various states scrambled to rein in the situation.