Trainee doctors are being pulled from exams to help fight the world’s biggest COVID-19 surge
India postponed exams for trainee doctors and nurses on Monday, freeing them up to fight the world’s most significant surge in coronavirus infections as the health system crumbles under the weight of new cases and hospitals run out of beds and oxygen. So far, the total number of conditions has risen to just 20 million, propelled by a 12th straight day of more than 300,000 new cases in a pandemic sparked by a virus first identified in central China at the end of 2019. Medical experts say actual numbers in India could be five to ten times higher than those reported.
Key Points
- New cases rise by over 300,000 for the 12th consecutive day
- The ratio of positive instances to tests drops for 1st time since 15 April
- The peak in cases may come from 3 May to 5 May; modeling shows
- Epidemiologist calls for stay-at-home orders, medical emergency
Hospitals have filled, medical oxygen supplies have run short, and morgues and crematoriums have been overloaded with corpses.
Patients are dying on hospital beds, ambulances, and carparks outside.
“Every time we have to struggle to get our quota of our oxygen cylinders,” said B.H. Narayan Rao, a district official in the southern town of Chamarajanagar, where 24 COVID-19 patients died, some from a suspected shortage of oxygen supplies.
“It’s a day-to-day fight,” added Mr. Rao, describing the hectic scramble for supplies.
WATCH: India’s infections of coronavirus cross 18 million
In many cases, volunteer groups have come to the rescue.
Outside a temple in the capital, New Delhi, Sikh volunteers provided oxygen to patients lying on benches inside makeshift tents hooked up to a giant cylinder.
Every 20 minutes or so, a new patient came in.
“No one should die because of a lack of oxygen. It’s a small thing otherwise, but nowadays, it is the one thing everyone needs,” Gurpreet Singh Rummy, who runs the service, told Reuters.
Total infections since the start of the pandemic have reached 19.93 million in India, swelled by 368,147 new cases over the past 24 hours, while the death toll rose by 3,417 to 218,959, health ministry data showed.
At least 3.4 million people are currently being treated.
Offering a glimmer of hope, the health ministry said positive cases relative to the number of tests fell on Monday for the first time since at least 15 April.
Modeling by a team of government advisers shows coronavirus cases could peak by Wednesday this week, a few days earlier than a previous estimate, since the virus has spread faster than expected.
At least 11 states and regions have ordered curbs on movement to stem infections. However, Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government, widely criticized for allowing the crisis to spin out of control, is reluctant to announce a national lockdown, concerned about the economic impact. “In my opinion, only a national stay-at-home order and declaring a medical emergency will help to address the current healthcare needs,” Bhramar Mukherjee, an epidemiologist with the University of Michigan, said on Twitter.
