NEW DELHI – India accounted for nearly half the coronavirus cases reported worldwide last week, the World Health Organization (WHO) said Wednesday, as Covid-19 deaths in the south Asian nation rose by a record 3,780 during the past 24 hours.
In a weekly report, the WHO said India accounted for 46 per cent of global cases and a quarter of global deaths reported in the past week.
Daily infections rose by 382,315 Wednesday, health ministry data showed. The number has been in excess of 300,000 every day for the past two weeks.
Hospitals are scrabbling for beds and oxygen as they desperately battle a second deadly surge in infections, while morgues and crematoriums struggle to deal with a seemingly unstoppable flow of bodies.
Many people have died in ambulances and car parks waiting for a bed or oxygen.
India’s delegation to the Group of Seven foreign ministers’ meeting in London is self-isolating after two of its members tested positive for Covid-19, Britain said Wednesday.
Foreign Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar, who is in London, said in a Twitter message that he would attend virtually. Broadcaster Sky News said Jaishankar did not test positive for the virus, however.
Britain is hosting the three-day meeting – the first such G7 event in two years – which has been heavily billed as a chance to restart face-to-face diplomacy and an opportunity for the West to show a united front against threats from China and Russia.
The meeting is a precursor to the main G7 summit due to take place at a rural English resort in June, with US President Joe Biden and other world leaders set to attend.
Neighbouring Nepal is also being overwhelmed by a surge of infections as India’s outbreak spreads across South Asia, the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies said.
With 57 times as many cases as a month ago, Nepal is seeing 44 per cent of tests come back positive, it added. Towns near the border with India are unable to cope with the growing numbers seeking treatment, while just 1 per cent of its population was fully vaccinated.
Medical experts say India’s actual figures could be five to 10 times the official tallies. The country has added 10 million cases in just over four months, after taking more than 10 months to reach its first 10 million.
Two “oxygen express” trains carrying liquid oxygen arrived in the capital, New Delhi, Wednesday, railways minister Piyush Goyal said on Twitter. More than 25 trains have distributed oxygen supplies nationwide.
The government says supplies are sufficient but transport woes have hindered distribution.
