India passes 200,000 Covid-19 deaths as daily cases break world record again

At least 300,000 new cases reported every day for the past week amid second wave of infections

Workers carry biodegradable cardboard beds at a makeshift ward set up at Radha Soami Satsang Beas in south Delhi. Bloomberg

Health workers turn away an ambulance at the main entrance of Lok Nayak Jaiprakash Hospital in India's capital New Delhi. Bloomberg

Harsh Vardhan, India's health minister, inspects a Covid-19 centre in the capital city of New Delhi. India is now the global coronavirus hotspot, setting daily new records for the world's highest number of cases. Bloomberg

People carry oxygen cylinders after refilling them at a factory amid a surge in coronavirus cases in India's western city of Ahmedabad. Reuters

Workers prepare beds at a makeshift Covid-19 ward set up at Radha Soami Satsang Beas in south Delhi. Bloomberg

A man suffering from shortness of breath receives free oxygen inside his car at a gurudwara, Sikh temple, amid the spread of coronavirus, in northern Indian city of Ghaziabad. Reuters

A board indicates unavailability of beds at Lok Nayak Jaiprakash Hospital in India's capital New Delhi. Bloomberg

Relatives offer prayers before they bury the body of a Covid-19 victim in Guwahati, the capital of north-east Indian state Assam. AP Photo

A sign indicates unavailability of oxygen at the Covid-19 care centre set up at the Commonwealth Games Village Sports Complex in New Delhi. Bloomberg

A patient wearing an oxygen mask looks on as his wife holds a battery-operated fan as they wait inside an auto-rickshaw to enter a Covid-19 hospital, in western Indian city of Ahmedabad. Reuters

A man rides a bicycle through a deserted market area in the northern Indian city of Amritsar amid the lockdown imposed to prevent the spread of Covid-19. AFP

Health workers outside a Covid-19 ward set up at the Commonwealth Games Village Sports Complex in New Delhi. Bloomberg

Patients inside a Covid-19 ward set up at the Commonwealth Games Village Sports Complex in New Delhi. Bloomberg

More than 200,000 people have died in India from coronavirus after the deadliest day in the country as surging case numbers leave hospitals short of staff, beds and oxygen.

At least 300,000 people tested positive every day for the past week, overwhelming healthcare facilities and crematoriums and fuelling an increasingly urgent international response.

The past 24 hours brought 360,960 new cases for the world's largest single-day total, taking India's tally of infections to nearly 18 million.

It was also the deadliest day so far, with 3,293 fatalities taking the toll to 201,187.

Experts believe the official tally underestimates the actual toll in a country of 1.35 billion.

The world is entering a critical phase of the pandemic and needs vaccinations available for all adults as soon as possible, said Udaya Regmi, South Asia head of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies.

"This is both an ethical and public health imperative," he said. "As variants keep spreading, this pandemic is far from over until the whole world is safe."

Ambulances lined up for hours in the capital, New Delhi, to take the bodies of Covid-19 victims to makeshift crematorium facilities in parks and parking lots, where bodies burned on rows of funeral pyres.

Coronavirus sufferers, many struggling for breath, flocked to a Sikh temple on the city's outskirts, hoping to secure some of its limited supplies of oxygen.

Hospitals in and around the capital said oxygen was scarce despite commitments to boost supplies.

"We make hundreds of calls and send messages every day to get our daily quota of oxygen," Dr Devlina Chakravarty, of the Artemis hospital in the suburb of Gurgaon, wrote in The Times of India newspaper.

The Mayom Hospital near by stopped new admissions unless patients brought oxygen cylinders or concentrators with them, its chief executive, Manish Prakash, told television channel NDTV.

Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal said people were falling sick more severely and for longer, stacking up the pressure.

"The current wave is particularly dangerous," he said.

"It is supremely contagious and those who are contracting it are not able to recover as swiftly. In these conditions, intensive care wards are in great demand."

Covid supplies rush in

Supplies arriving in New Delhi included ventilators and oxygen concentrators from Britain, with more sent from Australia, Germany and Ireland, while Singapore and Russia pledged oxygen cylinders and medical supplies.

"First shipment of oxygen generators from Taiwan to India is leaving this week," Kolas Yotaka, a spokeswoman for Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen, said on Twitter. "We are all in this together."

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau committed $10 million.

"We stand ready to donate extra medical supplies, too," he said on Twitter.

Indians welcomed the global rally to send assistance.

Credit rating agency S&P Global said India's second wave of infections could impede its economic recovery and expose other nations to further waves of outbreaks.

The Asia-Pacific region, in particular, was susceptible to contagion from the highly infectious variants in India, given the region's low ratios of vaccination, it said.

Tech companies in the southern city of Bengaluru and elsewhere set up "war rooms" as they scrambled to source oxygen, medicine and hospital beds for infected workers and maintain backroom operations for the world's biggest financial companies.

Epidemiologist Bhramar Mukherjee called for much larger lockdowns to slow the spread.

"At this point, lives are so much more important than livelihoods," the University of Michigan professor said on Twitter.

"Provide assistance to the poor, but please lock down and vaccinate."

Vaccinations in a national campaign begun in January average about 2.8 million doses a day since an April 5 peak of 4.5 million, government data shows.

More than 121 million people, about 9 per cent of the population, have received at least one dose.

Later on Wednesday, India will allow all above 18 years of age to register for vaccination, starting from May 1. About 800 million are estimated to become eligible.

US President Joe Biden said he had spoken at length to Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on how and when United States could send vaccines to the South Asian nation.

"I think we'll be in a position to be able to share, share vaccines, as well as know-how, with other countries who are in real need. That's the hope and expectation," he said at the White House on Tuesday.