New Delhi (AFP)
India, the second country most affected by Covid-19 after the United States, is facing a major health crisis with more than 2,000 deaths, nearly 300,000 new infections in 24 hours and a shortage of treatment and oxygen .
The most populous country on the planet after China now deplores more than 182,000 deaths from Covid and 15.6 million from contamination, leading Prime Minister Narendra Modi to intervene for the first time on television since the explosion in numbers.
This exponential recrudescence, with nearly 3.5 million new infections since the beginning of April, is notably attributed to a "double mutation" of the virus.
- hospitalization "almost impossible" -
Despite its overcrowded cities and the dilapidated health system, India had so far managed to emerge relatively unscathed from a pandemic which has caused more than three million deaths worldwide.
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 facilities have been delayed.
Today, distraught sick families are forced to pay exorbitant black market prices for medicine and oxygen, and social media is inundated with desperate cries for help.
"I am afraid for my parents and relatives more than for myself, because they are not very young any more and to be admitted in a hospital at the moment is almost impossible, entrusted to AFP a resident of Delhi. .
Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, who isolated himself on Tuesday after his wife tested positive, tweeted late Tuesday that some hospitals in the megalopolis had "only a few hours of oxygen left" in reserve.
The health minister of the megalopolis of about 25 million people, Satyendar Jain, has urged the federal government to "restore the oxygen supply chain to avoid a major crisis".
But hospitals in the state of Maharashtra, in the west of the country, and its overcrowded capital, Bombay, the epicenter of the coronavirus outbreak, are already experiencing serious shortages, according to the press.
- Lack of treatment -
"Most patients are sent home because we don't have enough oxygen and Remdesivir to treat them," said Harish Krishnamashar, doctor at Ramaiah Medical College Hospital in Bangalore (south).
The quantities of oxygen usually used to cover the needs of a week are used up in less than 48 hours, he says.
"The (central government), states and private sectors are trying to ensure that every patient in need receives oxygen," Modi said Tuesday evening.
- the variant and the vaccine?
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India has administered more than 130 million vaccines so far and, starting May 1, all adults will be able to get the vaccine.
"I think in a week or two we will have a more quantitative estimate of the reaction of the variant (virus) to the vaccine," Rakesh Mishra of the Center for Cellular and Molecular Biology told AFP.
However, some local authorities found themselves running out of supplies, and India had to curb exports of AstraZeneca's vaccine.
The country's states have imposed various restrictive measures: since Monday evening Delhi has been confined for a week, all non-essential stores have been closed in Maharashtra and the state of Uttar Pradesh, which has 200 million inhabitants, imposes confinement during the weekend.
The Delhi containment prompted tens of thousands of migrant workers to flee the megalopolis, reminiscent of last year's human and economic crisis.
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.
burs-stu / rma / lth / pz
© 2021 AFP