COVID-19 is leaving an indelible mark on India, whose health and hospital system is teetering under the pressure.
“We are very far away from the peak,” said Dr. Nivedita Gupta, of the government-run Indian Council of Medical Research. The situation remains particularly dire in India’s largest and most populous cities of Delhi and Mumbai, where state-run hospitals have run out of beds and are turning patients away. Maharashtra, India’s worst-hit state where Mumbai is located, has reported a total of 85,975 cases.
Delhi’s deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia, said that by current estimates there would be more than half a million COVID-19 cases in the capital alone by the end of July, requiring more than 80,000 hospital beds.
On May 25, India had 144,950 COVID-19 positive cases; by June 12, this has grown to 298,000 cases, a doubling in a mere 18 days, jumping to having the fourth highest level of coronavirus cases of any nation in the world. 8,711 Indians have died from COVID.
