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world news Dialuna 26 aPRil 2021

Virus 'swallowing' people in India; crematoriums overwhelmed

(AP) — With life-saving daily cases.
oxygen in short supply,
family members in India Now, with the death toll
are left on their own to mounting, his Hindu nation-
ferry coronavirus patients alist government is trying to
from hospital to hospital quell critical voices.
in search of treatment as
the country is engulfed in On Saturday, Twitter com-
a devastating new surge of plied with the government’s
infections. Too often their request and prevented people
efforts end in mourning. in India from viewing more
than 50 tweets that appeared
The stories are told in social to criticize the administra-
media posts and television tion’s handling of the pan-
footage, showing desperate demic. The targeted posts in-
relatives pleading for oxygen clude tweets from opposition
outside hospitals or weeping ministers critical of Modi,
in the street for loved ones journalists and ordinary In-
who died waiting for treat- dians.
ment.
A Twitter spokesperson said
One woman mourned the it had powers to “withhold
death of her younger brother, access to the content in India
aged 50. He was turned away only” if the company deter-
by two hospitals and died mined the content to be “il-
waiting to be seen at a third, legal in a particular jurisdic-
gasping after his oxygen tank tion.” The company said it
ran out and no replacements had responded to an order by
were to be had. the government and notified
people whose tweets were
She blamed Prime Minister withheld.
Narendra Modi’s govern-
ment for the crisis. sky in other badly hit cities. The situation is equally grim and it didn’t. India’s Information Technol-
at unbearably full hospitals, ogy Ministry did not respond
“He has lit funeral pyres in In the central city of Bhopal, where desperate people are Dr. Krutika Kuppalli, assis- to a request for comment.
every house,’’ she cried in a some crematoriums have in- dying in line, sometimes on tant professor of medicine in
video shot by India’s weekly creased their capacity from the roads outside, waiting to the division of infectious dis- Even with the targeted
magazine The Caravan. dozens of pyres to more than see doctors. eases at the Medical Univer- blocks, horrific scenes of
50. Yet officials say there are sity of South Carolina, said overwhelmed hospitals and
For the fourth straight day, still hours-long waits. Health officials are scram- the government should have cremation grounds spread on
India on Sunday set a global bling to expand critical care used the last year, when the Twitter and drew appeals of
daily record of new corona- At the city’s Bhadbhada units and stock up on dwin- virus was more under con- help.
virus infections, spurred by Vishram Ghat crematorium, dling supplies of oxygen. trol, to stockpile medicines
an insidious new variant that workers said they cremated Hospitals and patients alike and develop systems to con- White House National Secu-
emerged here. The surge more than 110 people on Sat- are struggling to procure front the likelihood of a new rity Advisor Jake Sullivan on
has undermined the govern- urday, even as government scarce medical equipment surge. Sunday said the United States
ment’s premature claims of figures in the entire city of 1.8 that is being sold on the black “Most importantly, they is “deeply concerned” by the
victory over the pandemic. million put the total number market at an exponential should have looked at what severe COVID-19 outbreak
of virus deaths at just 10. markup. was going on in other parts in India. “We are working
The 349,691 confirmed in- of the world and understood around the clock to deploy
fections over the past day “The virus is swallowing our The drama is in direct con- that it was a matter of time more supplies and support
brought India’s total to more city’s people like a monster,” trast with government claims before they would be in a to our friends and partners
than 16.9 million cases, be- said Mamtesh Sharma, an of- that “nobody in the country similar situation,’’ Kuppalli in India as they bravely bat-
hind only the United States. ficial at the site. was left without oxygen,” in said. tle this pandemic,” Sullivan
The Health Ministry re- a statement made Saturday tweeted.
ported another 2,767 deaths The unprecedented rush of by India’s Solicitor General Instead, the government’s Help and support also ap-
in the past 24 hours, pushing bodies has forced the cre- Tushar Mehta before Delhi premature declarations of peared to arrive from archri-
India’s fatalities to 192,311. matorium to skip individual High Court. victory over the pandemic val Pakistan, with politicians,
ceremonies and exhaustive created a “false narrative,” journalists and citizens in the
Experts say this toll could be rituals that Hindus believe The breakdown is a stark which encouraged people to neighboring country express-
a huge undercount, as sus- release the soul from the cy- failure for a country whose relax health measures when ing support for people in In-
pected cases are not included, cle of rebirth. prime minister only in Jan- they should have continued dia. Pakistan’s Foreign Af-
and many COVID-19 deaths uary had declared victory strict adherence to physical fairs Ministry said it offered
are being attributed to under- “We are just burning bodies over COVID-19, and which distancing, wearing masks to provide relief support
lying conditions. as they arrive,” said Sharma. boasted of being the “world’s and avoiding large crowds. including ventilators, oxy-
The unfolding crisis is most “It is as if we are in the mid- pharmacy,” a global producer gen supply kits, digital X-ray
visceral in India's over- dle of a war.” of vaccines and a model for Modi is facing mounting machines, PPE and related
whelmed graveyards and other developing nations. criticism for allowing Hindu items.
crematoriums, and in heart- The head gravedigger at New festivals and attending mam-
breaking images of gasping Delhi’s largest Muslim cem- Caught off-guard by the lat- moth election rallies that ex- “Humanitarian issues require
patients dying on their way to etery, where 1,000 people est deadly spike, the federal perts suspect accelerated the responses beyond politi-
hospitals due to lack of oxy- have been buried during the government has asked indus- spread of infections. At one cal consideration,” Foreign
gen. pandemic, said more bod- trialists to increase the pro- such rally on April 17, Modi Minister Shah Mehmood
ies are arriving now than last duction of oxygen and other expressed his delight at the Qureshi said.
Burial grounds in the capital year. “I fear we will run out life-saving drugs in short huge crowd, even as experts
New Delhi are running out of space very soon,” said Mo- supply. But health experts say warned that a deadly surge The Indian government did
of space. Bright, glowing fu- hammad Shameem. India had an entire year to was inevitable with India al- not immediately respond to
neral pyres light up the night prepare for the inevitable — ready counting 250,000 new Qureshi’s statement.