India records new daily rise in COVID-19 cases

India has recorded new daily rise of 401,993 COVID-19 cases on Saturday as the country opened up its mega vaccination drive to all adults.

According to health ministry data, deaths from COVID-19 jumped by 3,523 over the past 24 hours.

India, the world’s biggest producer of COVID-19 vaccines has a limited number of shots available domestically, worsening a hard second wave of infections that has left hospitals and morgues overflowing while families scramble for increasingly scarce medicines and oxygen.

Hundreds of people were seen queuing across Ahmedabad, the main commercial city in Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s home state of Gujarat to get vaccinated.

Delhi Chief Minister, Arvind Kejriwal, “We hope that we will get vaccines tomorrow or the day after, I ask you to please not queue up at vaccination centres on Saturday.”

A fire in a hospital in some 190 km north of Ahmedabad killed 16 coronavirus patients and two staff, the latest in a series of deadly accidents at hospitals.

The total number of cases has topped 19 million. As the second wave has picked up steam, India has added about 7.7 million cases since the end of February.

The Chief Minister although several states warned of acute vaccine shortages.

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Kamila/Reuters