The healthcare system has struggled to cope with the huge surge, with reports of severe oxygen and medicine shortages and patients’ families pleading for help on social media.India recorded 349,691 new cases and 2767 deaths in the past 24 hours – the highest since the start of the pandemic.A high court in New Delhi today warned it would use the death penalty after officials intercepted and diverted oxygen tanks to desperate hospitals in their areas.India’s capital – home to 20 million people and the worst hit in India – imposed a week-long lockdown on Monday.“We have decided to extend the lockdown by one week,” Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal said.“The havoc of corona(virus) continues and there is no respite.” New Delhi on Sunday reported just under 23,000 new cases – with more than one-quarter of those tested returning positive results – and 350 deaths.Crematoriums are so overwhelmed the government is permitting families to cremate or bury their loved ones in their own farms, land or gardens.Karnataka Chief Minister B. S. Yediyurappa said: “It is prudent to swiftly and respectfully dispose the body in a decentralised manner keeping in view the grieving circumstance and to avoid crowding in crematoriums and burial grounds.”Prime Minister Narendra Modi said in his monthly radio address that India had been shaken by a “storm” as he called on people to get vaccinated and not “get swayed by any rumour about the vaccines”.The country has administered almost 141 million vaccine shots so far, but experts say the mass inoculation program needs to be significantly stepped up in the nation of 1.3 billion people.There has been growing criticism of Modi’s government over allegations it was caught underprepared ahead of the surge.On Sunday, Twitter confirmed it withheld dozens of tweets critical of the crisis after a legal demand from New Delhi.“If (the content) is determined to be illegal in a particular jurisdiction, but not in violation of the Twitter rules, we may withhold access to the content in India only,” the social media giant said in a statement.Some tweets included comments, including from regional opposition politicians, about the overwhelmed healthcare system.The IT ministry told AFP it asked Twitter to remove 100 posts, adding that there was “the misuse of social media platforms by certain users to spread fake or misleading information and create panic about the COVID-19 situation in India”.INTERNATIONAL HELPShocking stories of patients dying outside hospitals have spurred promises of support from the international community.The White House said on Sunday that the United States would “immediately” make supplies of vaccine-production material, as well as therapeutics, tests, ventilators and protective equipment, available to India.But it did not mention whether the US would send millions of surplus AstraZeneca vaccine doses to India, after top US pandemic adviser Anthony Fauci on Sunday said that would be considered.The United States has around 30 million doses of the low-cost AstraZeneca vaccine that are not approved for use in the country.Dr Fauci told ABC’s This Week news program the idea of sending them to India will be “something that is up for active consideration.” The AstraZeneca vaccine, along with the single-shot Johnson & Johnson vaccine, is suspected of causing very rare but serious blood clots in a handful of cases, but is approved for use in many countries including India.European nations including Britain, France and Germany have also pledged help. Arch-foe Pakistan offered medical equipment and supplies after Prime Minister Imran Khan tweeted prayers for a “speedy recovery”.Other countries imposed travel restrictions. Thailand on Sunday became the latest country to bar foreigners departing India from entering.Neighbouring Bangladesh, which shares a 4000km border with India, will halt land crossings for two weeks from Monday, Foreign Minister A.K. Abdul Momen told AFP on Sunday.Australia is aware of the battle India is facing.“Australia sends solidarity to our friends in India as it tackles this latest COVID-19 outbreak,” Foreign Minister Marise Payne said.“India’s generosity and leadership in providing vaccines to our region is appreciated. We will continue to work together closely to respond to this global crisis”.NED-3679-Indias-Mutant-COVID-19OXYGEN CRISISThe Indian Express reported on Sunday that Vinod K. Paul, a member of government advisory body NITI Aayog, warned in a presentation to the prime minister and state leaders on Friday that daily cases could rise to as high as half a million by mid-May.Some states and territories have imposed curbs on movement and activities, with Indian-administered Kashmir on Saturday announcing a weekend lockdown.Ambulance sirens echoed through empty streets in the northern city of Lucknow in India’s most populous state, badly hit Uttar Pradesh, during its weekend lockdown.“No one’s answering … calls. Where do I take the patient to?,” Abhishek Gaurav, 40, told AFP as he searched for a hospital bed for his friend in Lucknow. His pleas were echoed by others.In Delhi, there were chaotic scenes outside some hospitals.“He was gasping for air, we removed his face mask and he was crying and saying ‘save me, please save me’,” Mohan Sharma, 17, said of his father, who died outside a northeast Delhi hospital.“But I could do nothing. I just watched him die,” Sharma told AFP. The government said Sunday that more than 500 oxygen-generation plants were to be set up in hospitals. Oxygen supplies were also being bolstered through special trains and airlifts of containers from other countries.‘DOUBLE MUTANT’ VIRUS SPREADS AS NATIONS WARN OF CASE SURGEA first case of the COVID-19 variant contributing to the exploding outbreak in India has been detected in Switzerland, the public health authority said on Saturday.“The first case of the Indian variant of COVID-19 has been discovered in Switzerland,” Switzerland’s Federal Office of Public Health said in a tweet.The virus variant was found in “a passenger who was transiting through an airport,” it said, without providing more details about the case.The news comes after Belgian authorities on Thursday said a group of 20 Indian nursing students who arrived from Paris had tested positive for the variant in the country.India’s healthcare system is buckling under a new wave of infections blamed in part on the new “double mutant” variant, known as B. 1.617.Countries have been on high alert for the variant, with several suspending flights from India.The Swiss are discussing whether adding India to its “red list” of high risk countries, the health authority said on Saturday, local time.People arriving from countries placed on Switzerland’s red list are required to quarantine for 10 days.Kuwait and Iran have restricted flights and passengers from India until further notice after the South Asian giant recorded its highest daily death toll and some hospitals ran out of oxygen.The region’s busiest international air hub, the United Arab Emirates, had already announced on Thursday that it would suspend flights to and from India from Sunday.
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