Coronavirus: US to help as India weathers ‘storm’; Tokyo sees third virus emergency

India has become the new pandemic hotspot, with over 16 million cases recorded. New Delhi is extending its week-long lockdown

Elsewhere, there’s a new state of emergency in the Tokyo and Osaka regions, while 50,000 people turned out for a concert in virus-free New Zealand

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A worker refills medical oxygen cylinders at a charging station on the outskirts of Prayagraj, India. Photo: AP

Published: 11:46am, 25 Apr 2021Updated: 6:05pm, 25 Apr 2021

India set a new global record of the most number of Covid-19 infections in a day on Sunday, as Prime Minister Narendra Modi urged all citizens to be vaccinated and exercise caution, saying the “storm” of infections had shaken the country.

The United States said it was deeply concerned by the massive surge in coronavirus cases in India and was racing to send aid.

India’s number of cases surged by 349,691 in the past 24 hours, the fourth straight day of record peaks, and hospitals in Delhi and across the country are turning away patients after running out of medical oxygen and beds.

“We were confident, our spirits were up after successfully tackling the first wave, but this storm has shaken the nation,” Modi said in a radio address.

A surge blamed on a new virus variant and recent “superspreader” public events has wrought devastation on the country of 1.3 billion. Modi’s government has faced criticism that it let its guard down, allowed big religious and political gatherings to take place when India’s cases plummeted to below 10,000 a day and did not plan on building up the health care systems.

Hospitals and doctors have put out urgent notices that they were unable to cope with the rush of patients. People were arranging stretchers and oxygen cylinders outside hospitals as they desperately pleaded for authorities to take patients in, witnesses said.

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