COVID-19 vaccination centers close in Mumbai as India posts another record rise in cases

Only about 9 percent of India’s 1.4 billion people have received a vaccine dose since January. (AP)

• India reported 386,452 news cases on Friday, while deaths from COVID-19 jumped by 3,498 over the last 24 hours
• The country is in deep crisis, with hospitals and morgues overwhelmed, medicines and oxygen in short supply

BENGALURU: All vaccination centers in India’s financial capital of Mumbai were shut for three days starting Friday due to a shortage of vaccines, said authorities, as the country posted another record daily rise in coronavirus cases.
India reported 386,452 news cases on Friday, while deaths from COVID-19 jumped by 3,498 over the last 24 hours, according to health ministry data.
However, medical experts believe actual COVID-19 numbers in the world’s second-most populous nation may be five to 10 times greater than the official tally.
India has added about 7.7 million cases since the end of February, when its second wave picked up steam, according to a Reuters tally. In contrast, it took India nearly six months to add the previous 7.7 million cases.
The country is in deep crisis, with hospitals and morgues overwhelmed, medicines and oxygen in short supply and strict curbs on movement in its biggest cities.
India is the world’s biggest producer of vaccines but does not have enough stockpiles to keep up with the second deadly COVID-19 wave, despite Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government planning to vaccinate all adults starting May 1. Only about 9 percent of India’s 1.4 billion people have received a vaccine dose since January.
Several states have said they will be unable to immunize people aged 18-45 immediately.
Modi is scheduled to meet cabinet of ministers on Friday as the wave of infections cripples the nation’s health system and threatens to impact major businesses as absenteeism grows with staff falling sick or taking leave to tend to sick relatives.
World aid has started arriving in India as it struggles to combat what has been described as a humanitarian disaster.
The first US flight carrying oxygen cylinders, regulators, rapid diagnostic kits, N95 masks and pulse oximeters arrived in the Indian capital Delhi on Friday.
“Just as India came to our aid early in the pandemic, the US is committed to working urgently to provide assistance to India in its time of need,” US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Twitter.
“Today we are proud to deliver our first shipment of critical oxygen equipment, therapeutics and raw materials for vaccine production.”