Coronavirus LIVE Updates: With the death of 3,523 more COVID-19 patients in the past 24 hours, the total number of fatalities in the country climbed to 2,11,853 on Saturday, said the Union health ministry. This takes the national fatality rate to 1.1 percent
Representational image. PTI
LATEST Updates: With the death of 3,523 more patients in the past 24 hours, the total number of fatalities in the country climbed to 2,11,853 on Saturday, said the Union health ministry. This takes the national fatality rate to 1.1 percent.
Several state governments have said they won't be able to start the Phase 3 vaccination drive from Saturday because they do not have sufficient doses. This phase of vaccination drive is for people between the age group of 18-45 years.
A fire in a hospital ward in Gujarat's Bharuch killed 18 patients early Saturday, as the country grappling with the worst outbreak yet steps up a vaccination drive for all its adults even though some states say don't have enough jabs.
Fifty other patients at the Welfare Hospital in Bharuch, a town in Gujarat state, were rescued by hospital workers and firefighters, said police officer Rajendrasinh Chudasama.
The fire broke out in a ward on the ground floor and was extinguished within an hour, PTI quoted the fire service as saying. The cause of the fire is being investigated.
On 23 April, a fire in an intensive care unit killed 13 patients in the Virar area on the outskirts of Mumbai.
Faced with an unprecedented surge in cases that has filled hospitals and crematoriums, creating a major crisis in a country of 1.4 billion, the government on Saturday shifted its faltering vaccination campaign into high gear by saying all adults 18 and over were getting their shots.
Since January, nearly 10 percent of Indians have received one dose, but only around 1.5% have received both, though India is one of the world's biggest producers of vaccines.
Some states already said they do not have enough doses for everyone. Even the ongoing effort to inoculate people above 45 is stuttering.
The state of Maharashtra has said it won't be able to start on Saturday. Satyender Jain, the Delhi health minister, said earlier this week that the city doesn’t have enough doses to vaccinate people between 18 and 44.
India on Friday reported another global daily record of 386,452 new cases, pushing the overall toll to more than 18.7 million since the pandemic began, second only to the United States. The Health Ministry also reported 3,498 deaths in the last 24 hours, bringing the total to 208,330. Experts believe both figures are an undercount.
The US meanwhile joined a growing list of countries restricting travel from India, the White House said, citing a devastating rise in cases and the emergence of potentially dangerous variants of the .
President Joe Biden spoke Monday with Prime Minister Narendra Modi about the growing health crisis and pledged to immediately send assistance. This week, the US began delivering therapeutics, rapid virus tests and oxygen to India, along with some materials needed for India to boost its domestic production of vaccines.
Additionally, a CDC team of public health experts was expected to be on the ground soon to help Indian health officials move to slow the spread of the virus.
Other nations have also sent assistance, and the Indian air force airlifted oxygen containers from Singapore, Dubai and Bangkok.
