Coronavirus: India reports over 323,000 new cases as foreign help arrives

India is nearing 200,000 deaths as it battles a surge in Covid-19 infections, as 100 ventilators and 95 oxygen concentrators arrived from Britain

Elsewhere, Australia and Malaysia have halted arrivals from India, and a hotel worker in Vietnam tested positive after contact with 11 quarantined Indian tourists

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Indian health care workers in personal protective equipment (PPE) care to Covid-19 patients in an isolation ward installed temporarily in a banquet hall in New Delhi. Photo: DPA

Published: 4:05pm, 27 Apr 2021Updated: 4:42pm, 27 Apr 2021

India recorded more than 320,000 new cases of coronavirus infection on Tuesday as a grim surge of illness and death weighed on the country and its sinking health system started getting much-needed support from foreign nations.

Tuesday’s new infections raised India’s total past 17.6 million, behind only the United States. It ended a five-day streak of recording the largest single-day increases in any country throughout the pandemic, but officials say the decline likely reflects lower weekend testing rather than reduced spread of the virus.

The health ministry also reported another 2,771 deaths in the past 24 hours, with roughly 115 Indians succumbing to the disease every hour. The latest fatalities pushed India’s fatalities to 197,894, behind the US, Brazil and Mexico. Experts say even these figures are probably an undercount.

Foreign ministry spokesman Arindam Bagchi tweeted photos on Tuesday of the first shipment of medical aid India received from Britain. It included 100 ventilators and 95 oxygen concentrators. France is also sending oxygen generators that can provide year-long oxygen for 250 beds, the embassy said.

The first “Oxygen Express” train for Delhi carrying around 70 tonnes of the lifesaving gas from the eastern state of Chhattisgarh also reached the national capital early on Tuesday.

Other nations like the US, Germany, Israel and Pakistan have also promised medical aid to India. The countries have said they will supply oxygen, diagnostic tests, treatments, ventilators and protective gear to help India at the time of crisis which World Health Organization’s chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus on Monday called “beyond heartbreaking”.

The surge, spurred by insidious new variants of coronavirus, has undermined the Indian government’s premature claims of victory over the pandemic. The country of nearly 1.4 billion people is facing a chronic shortage of space on its intensive care wards. Hospitals are experiencing oxygen shortages and many people are being forced to turn to makeshift facilities for mass burials and cremations as the country’s funeral services have become overwhelmed.