India's daily COVID-19 cases hit new record of 360,960

By Ahmad Adil

NEW DELHI (AA) - India set a new global record Wednesday for daily coronavirus cases, registering more than 360,000 infections in the past 24 hours.

The country’s virus-linked death toll has now surpassed 200,000.

According to daily statistics released by the Health Ministry, 360,960 new cases were registered, taking the country’s overall caseload to 17.99 million. The death toll has now reached 201,187, including a record 3,293 new fatalities.

India has been registering an exponentially high number cases -- over 300,000 daily COVID-19 infections since April 22 -- leading to a shortage of medical oxygen, hospital beds and treatment drugs like Remdesivir. Daily cases Monday reached 352,991, while the country saw 323,144 new cases Tuesday.

The situation is even worse in the capital New Delhi, where hospitals have expressed their helplessness as they face an acute oxygen shortage. There have been a number of cases where patients are dying as they fail to get oxygen beds at hospitals.

According to official figures, New Delhi reported over 24,000 new cases and 381 deaths late Tuesday.

The badly hit state of Maharashtra meanwhile recorded 895 deaths late Tuesday, the highest ever figure for the state in a single day.

With more fatalities reported across the country, cities are reporting far larger numbers of cremations and burials. While those managing the cremations and burials say they have not seen such a number before, New Delhi has now made makeshift funeral pyres to deal with the growing cremations.

Even as India’s death toll crossed 200,000 on Wednesday, experts believe that the number is higher as many deaths are underreported.

With India continuing to be battered by the mounting coronavirus crisis, the international community has come forward to provide assistance to the country. The first emergency medical supplies from the UK arrived in India on Tuesday.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi is under fire for failing to manage the second wave of the pandemic. The country is now using railways, the air force and the navy to transport oxygen across the country.