India's COVID-19 Tsunami: Infection Cases Raising 314,835 In A Day, Hospitals Running Out Of Oxygen

Ilustrasi COVID-19. (Wikimedia Commons/US Navy Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Sara Eshleman)

JAKARTA - The COVID-19 tsunami in India is getting worse. On Thursday, local authorities reported a daily increase in the number of COVID-19 infections to more than 300,000, followed by a jump in the death toll.

In total, an additional 314,835 cases of infection were reported, far exceeding the US record's previous daily increase of 297,430 cases in the United States in January.

Data from the Ministry of Health, India's COVID-19 infection cases were recorded at 15.93 million, with the death toll increasing by 2,104 to 184,657 deaths. Meanwhile, 24 people with COVID-19 in West India died because their ventilators ran out of oxygen on Wednesday, April 21 yesterday, amid the oxygen crisis that occurred in India.

Maharashtra State Health Minister Rajesh Tope confirmed the death at a hospital in the city of Nashik. He explained that the hospital's oxygen supply was running out because a tanker that was filling it had a leak. Oxygen is getting scarce across the country.

"The leak was seen in the tank supplying oxygen to these patients. The cut supply could be linked to the death of a patient in the hospital," Tope said.

Hospitals in Delhi, the capital and elsewhere have warned that the medical oxygen supply provided to seriously ill COVID-19 patients is running low.

Meanwhile, Delhi's largest private sector healthcare provider and its suburb Max Healthcare said some of its hospitals had almost no oxygen supply for two hours.

"India is having a coronavirus storm hitting its health system. The authorities are working with states and private companies to deliver oxygen quickly," Prime Minister Narendra Modi said in his national speech last Tuesday.

In the midst of this situation, the Serum Institute of India (SII), which produces AstraZeneca's COVID-19 vaccine, said it would not be able to increase its monthly production from 60-70 million doses to 100 million doses in May as originally estimated. SII said this condition will last until next July, affecting the vaccination program that has been opened for all adults over 18 years.