As India is in the throes of an appalling epidemic surge with nearly 350,000 new cases recorded on Sunday, the country's health system and scarce hospital resources are once again highlighted.

In Bangalore, health establishments are not supplied on time and are sorely lacking in oxygen.

REPORTAGE

At full speed, an ambulance slalom between the vehicles.

At the front, Tanveer Ahmed juggles between family phone calls.

"Yes, we are going to arrange a funeral for your father. Send me his name, his religion, his identity card and the hospital where he died", he asks the relative of a deceased.

We are in Bangalore, India and, with his NGO, Tanveer is shipping the bodies of Covid victims free of charge to crematoriums or crowded cemeteries.

Because in a few weeks, the number of deaths exploded in India. 

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A catastrophic situation

The country recorded nearly 350,000 new coronavirus contaminations in 24 hours and 2,800 deaths on Sunday.

A finding that prompted local authorities to extend confinement for a week in the capital New Delhi.

But this world record also highlights the dilapidated state of the Indian health system and a catastrophic health situation in hospitals that lack everything.

This is particularly the case in the city of Bangalore, in the south of the country, where oxygen resources are far from sufficient in the face of the influx of patients.

"I have to sleep 3 to 4 hours a day. I am constantly on the phone, permanently in the field. The government is talking about 70 deaths a day in Bangalore. I think there are at least 250", estimates Tanveer .

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Hospitals lacking oxygen 

The crisis is hitting all the city's hospitals.

And oxygen for the most critical cases is particularly lacking, as evidenced by Tousif Masood, who manages a depot.

"Unfortunately, we are no longer able to recharge our oxygen bottles. Hospitals are not supplied on time. Patients therefore have to wait in the street before being able to receive any," he notes.

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Across the country, the government is therefore trying to step up efforts to supply oxygen, with trains and special flights from abroad, particularly from Singapore and Saudi Arabia.

More than 500 oxygen production units are also to be installed in public hospitals, the health ministry said on Sunday as private companies also announced their contribution.

Because Bangalore is like the rest of India.

On Friday, 25 patients died in New Delhi from lack of oxygen.

And in the state of Gujarat, crematoriums have even melted from running at full speed.