MODI UNDER FIRE FOR MISHANDLING OF SECOND WAVE AS INDIA SEES 273,810 NEW CASES

Mon 19 April 2021:

The Indian capital will be under a strict lockdown for six days starting on Monday night, Delhi state’s Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal said, adding the healthcare system was at a breaking point because of the worsening COVID-19 outbreak.

“If we don’t impose a lockdown now, we will be looking at a bigger disaster. From tonight there will be a lockdown until next Monday,” Kejriwal said.

“I do not say that the system has collapsed, but it has reached its limits,” he said, adding that harsh measures were necessary to “prevent a collapse of the health system”.

India has reported a record rise in coronavirus infections of 273,810, as capital New Delhi announces a complete curfew starting Monday night and hospitals across the country struggle with a shortage of hospital beds and oxygen supplies.

Indian social media was flooded with people complaining about the lack of beds, oxygen cylinders and drugs, and citizen groups circulating helpline numbers and volunteering support.

The country’s deaths from COVID-19 rose by a record 1,619 to reach a total of 178,769, according to health ministry data on Monday.

Kejriwal also said the capital was also facing acute shortages of hospital beds and key medicines such as the anti-viral remdesivir.

“The cases are rising very fast… only 100 beds left,” Kejriwal said on Sunday in a video statement, adding that additional beds would be set up at some schools and a sport complex.

He later tweeted that there was an “acute shortage of oxygen”, adding in capital letters that “oxygen has become an emergency” in the megalopolis.

PM Modi criticize

Despite soaring infections, politicians continued to hold mass rallies across the country for state elections.

Criticism has mounted over how Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s administration has handled India’s second wave of the pandemic, with religious festivals and election rallies being attended by thousands.

Leaders including Home Minister Amit Shah are set to hold further road shows and public meetings on Monday.

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi – who has also addressed election rallies in recent weeks – said on Sunday he was suspending all his public rallies in West Bengal, which is in the middle of polls.

Nearly 3,700 people have tested positive in the past week in the city of Haridwar, which lies along the Ganges river where the Kumbh Mela festival is being observed, the Uttarakhand state government said.

Health experts have warned the pilgrimage could become a “super-spreader” event.

India has the fourth highest number of deaths after the United States, Brazil and Mexico – though, with nearly 1.4 billion people, it has a much larger population than those countries. India’s overall coronavirus caseload is now past 15 million, second only to the US globally.