India continues to suffer the brunt of the COVID crisis. Infections in India hit another grim daily record on Thursday, as the number of new confirmed cases in one day reached the level of 400,000 for the second time in a month since the devastating surge began last month. Meanwhile, Indian shares pared gains today, on the heels of COVID infections in India reaching the 21 million mark.
India today has failed to flee COVID’s wrath, as more than 412,262 cases were recorded today, pushing India’s tally to more than 21 million. Data from India’s Health Ministry shows 3,980 deaths were recorded during the past 24 hours, keeping the death toll rising to 230,168. True figures are believed to be much higher than expected.
The proverb “troubles never come singly” has proven to be literally true, as one hospital in India was hit by a double whammy yesterday. In addition to shortages of beds and medical supplies, a faulty valve rendered oxygen concentrators useless. Pressure in the oxygen line dropped suddenly on yesterday night, leaving 11 COVID-19 sufferers dead.
Meantime, amid the increasing demand for hospital oxygen, India is scrambling to seek more support from foreign nations. Now, even countries in the Middle East are lending a helping hand. On Tuesday, oxygen tankers from Bahrain and Kuwait arrived in India. Despite more and more medical supplies coming in, the nation’s fragile healthcare system is still being plagued by shortages of medical supplies as supplies in hard-hit places like New Delhi are in short supply due to increasing demands for supplies in the country.
The Indian government has been trying to allay public fears over the COVID crisis by promising the government will work even harder to inoculate more adults in the country. More countries are offering help by sending medical supplies to India, for the sake of Indians, thereby helping India to curb the outbreak. But be that as it may, many still believe, vaccines are ineffective, and that the Indian government still won’t be able to tackle the crisis despite having enough raw materials to produce more vaccines, and more medical supplies.
Sure enough, Indian shares pared gains today, as the worrisome surge in coronavirus infections in the country fuelled fears that India would not be able to recover from the economic recession brought by the pandemic. The S&P BSE Sensex dipped 0.06 percent to 48,649, after an early uptick led by metal stocks on strong steel prices and solid results from Tata Steel.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s administration has long been criticised for dragging its feet on imposing a nationwide lockdown to contain the outbreak because of fears that it would trigger yet another financial crisis.
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