India struggled to contain one of the world’s worst COVID-19 outbreaks with nearly 400,000 new infections reported yesterday, as more international aid arrived in the South Asian nation to help end the crisis.
Surges in Brazil and Canada also highlighted the persistent threat of the COVID-19 pandemic, with the virus’ death toll approaching 3.2 million even as many nations ramp up their vaccination drives.
India expanded its vaccination program to all adults on Saturday, but many of its states are struggling with shortages, despite an export freeze for shots produced in the country.
Photo: AP
Long queues were seen at vaccination centers in cities across India last weekend, with people desperate to be inoculated against a disease that has overwhelmed the country’s healthcare system, and even crematoriums and graveyards.
“We are here early in the morning to get vaccinated... I left my three-year-old at home to get vaccinated,” Megha Srivastava, 35, said at a private vaccination center in New Delhi. “It is a necessity now. We are seeing so many people testing positive.”
Social media platforms have been flooded with desperate pleas from people looking for oxygen cylinders, medicines and hospital beds as the COVID-19 wave causes widespread shortages.
India yesterday reported more than 392,000 new cases and nearly 3,700 COVID-19 deaths.
The dire situation prompted many nations including Taiwan, the US and the UK to dispatch emergency supplies including oxygen generators, masks and vaccines.
Yesterday, aid from France reached India, including eight oxygen generator plants and 28 ventilators, adding to the 120 ventilators from Germany that arrived on the day before.
New Delhi, one of the hardest-hit parts of the country, on Saturday extended its lockdown by a week.
US National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases Director Anthony Fauci said that India should go into lockdown to fight this wave.
However, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government has resisted imposing a national shutdown, despite many states and territories having imposed restrictions.
Known global infections are approaching 152 million, and fresh waves have also shaken many countries in the Americas.
Brazil, the worst-hit Latin American nation, has crossed 400,000 COVID-19 deaths — second only to the US, with many of its hospitals pushed to the brink of collapse.
A case surge in Canada’s most populous province of Ontario has been so intense that Ottawa sent the military and the Red Cross to the most affected areas to help care for critical patients.
Ontario’s healthcare system is nearing the breaking point, said Farial Faquiry, an intensive care nurse at Toronto’s Humber River Hospital.
“We’re stretched thin,” Faquiry said. “We’re tired and exhausted. Just exhausted.”
Many health professionals and caregivers are also frustrated with people who have not followed precautions.
“I think we all feel we have been let down a little bit by society,” said Jamie Spiegelman, a physician at the hospital.
Canada’s vaccine rollout has also stumbled because of supply issues, unlike its southern neighbor, the US, which has given at least one dose to more than half its adult population.
Seven people sustained mostly minor injuries in an airplane fire in South Korea, authorities said yesterday, with local media suggesting the blaze might have been caused by a portable battery stored in the overhead bin. The Air Busan plane, an Airbus A321, was set to fly to Hong Kong from Gimhae International Airport in southeastern Busan, but caught fire in the rear section on Tuesday night, the South Korean Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport said. A total of 169 passengers and seven flight attendants and staff were evacuated down inflatable slides, it said. Authorities initially reported three injuries, but revised the number
A colossal explosion in the sky, unleashing energy hundreds of times greater than the Hiroshima bomb. A blinding flash nearly as bright as the sun. Shockwaves powerful enough to flatten everything for miles. It might sound apocalyptic, but a newly detected asteroid nearly the size of a football field now has a greater than 1 percent chance of colliding with Earth in about eight years. Such an impact has the potential for city-level devastation, depending on where it strikes. Scientists are not panicking yet, but they are watching closely. “At this point, it’s: ‘Let’s pay a lot of attention, let’s
‘BALD-FACED LIE’: The woman is accused of administering non-prescribed drugs to the one-year-old and filmed the toddler’s distress to solicit donations online A social media influencer accused of filming the torture of her baby to gain money allegedly manufactured symptoms causing the toddler to have brain surgery, a magistrate has heard. The 34-year-old Queensland woman is charged with torturing an infant and posting videos of the little girl online to build a social media following and solicit donations. A decision on her bail application in a Brisbane court was yesterday postponed after the magistrate opted to take more time before making a decision in an effort “not to be overwhelmed” by the nature of allegations “so offensive to right-thinking people.” The Sunshine Coast woman —
BORDER SERVICES: With the US-funded International Rescue Committee telling clinics to shut by tomorrow, Burmese refugees face sudden discharge from Thai hospitals Healthcare centers serving tens of thousands of refugees on the Thai-Myanmar border have been ordered shut after US President Donald Trump froze most foreign aid last week, forcing Thai officials to transport the sickest patients to other facilities. The International Rescue Committee (IRC), which funds the clinics with US support, told the facilities to shut by tomorrow, a local official and two camp committee members said. The IRC did not respond to a request for comment. Trump last week paused development assistance from the US Agency for International Development for 90 days to assess compatibility with his “America First” policy. The freeze has thrown
RSS