The country continues to grapple with the worst outbreak yet.
NEW DELHI — A fire in a COVID-19 hospital ward in western India 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.
On April 23, a fire in an intensive care unit killed 13 COVID-19 patients in the Virar area on the outskirts of Mumbai. Faced with an unprecedented surge in cases that has filled hospitals and crematoriums, Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government described the pandemic as a “once-in-a-century crisis.” Modi held a Cabinet meeting Friday that discussed steps to save the country’s crumbling health system by adding hospital beds, resolving issues in production, storage and transport of oxygen and tackling the shortage of essential medicines.
Media reports said that an attorney for the Batra hospital told a New Delhi court that the hospital ran out of supply of oxygen for 80 minutes before the tank was replenished. Some states already said they don’t have enough doses for everyone. Even the ongoing effort to inoculate people above 45 is stuttering.