This archive report was first published on 11 May 2021.
India's Covid-19 crisis has taken a devastating turn, with the country recording a record 3,980 deaths and 412,262 new cases in the past 24 hours.
According to health ministry numbers, the national total of Covid-19 deaths has now reached 230,168, while the caseload since the pandemic began has surpassed 21.1 million.
Many experts suspect that the real numbers could be significantly higher due to low levels of testing and poor record-keeping for cause of death.
India's government had been hoping that the recent surge in cases was easing, but the latest numbers have dashed those hopes.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government has resisted imposing a new lockdown, despite several regions imposing local shutdowns.
India's principal scientific advisor, K. Vijay Raghavan, has warned that the country must be prepared for another wave of infections after the current one.
“Phase 3 is inevitable given the high levels of circulating virus. But it is not clear on what timescale this phase 3 will occur. We should prepare for new waves,” Raghavan said.
India is facing a severe shortage of oxygen, with the government facing criticism as patients die outside hospitals.
Consignment of oxygen and equipment have been arriving from the United States, France, Britain, Russia and other countries in recent days.
However, India will need yet more oxygen from other countries to fight the surge until numbers stabilise.
“We did not and do not have enough oxygen,” a top government official said. “If we could get more oxygen more lives would be saved.”
