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<\/picture><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\nIndia\u2019s second wave of Covid-19 infections shows no signs of slowing down as the country\u2019s overwhelmed health-care system faces supply shortages for hospital beds, oxygen, medicines and vaccines.<\/p>\n
The World Health Organization said last week that one in every three new coronavirus cases globally is being reported in India.<\/p>\n
Prime Minister\u00a0Narendra Modi\u2019s<\/a>\u00a0government is facing criticism for allowing large crowds to gather for religious festivals and election rallies in various parts of the country.\u00a0Commentators said the mass gatherings<\/a>\u00a0likely\u00a0turned into super spreader events<\/a>.<\/p>\n Cases in the second wave started rising in February, when India reported an average of about 10,000 infections a day. But the situation progressively worsened in April, ending the month by repeatedly setting new global records for daily cases. India kicked off May by\u00a0reporting more than 400,000 new cases<\/a>.<\/p>\n Nearly 7 million cases were reported for the month, a huge share of the more than 19 million India has recorded during the entire pandemic, according to data from Johns Hopkins University.<\/p>\n Scientists say the spike in cases is partially due to variants of the coronavirus circulating in India at the moment.<\/p>\n \u201cThere is at least emergence of two important dominant variants, one is a U.K. variant, one is an Indian variant,\u201d Manoj Murhekar, director of the National Institute of Epidemiology, Chennai, told CNBC on Friday.<\/p>\n The Indian government\u00a0reportedly said last month that 80% of cases in Punjab<\/a>\u00a0were due to the highly contagious U.K. variant, which is known as B.1.1.7.<\/p>\n Meanwhile, the Indian variant is known as B.1.617 and has multiple sub-lineages with slightly different characteristic mutations. The WHO classified it as a variant of interest in its\u00a0epidemiological update on the pandemic last week<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Maharashtra, which is home to India\u2019s financial capital Mumbai, is the hardest hit state and also the epicenter for the second wave.<\/p>\n India\u2019s richest state went into\u00a0a lockdown in mid-April<\/a>\u00a0to break the chain of transmission.\u00a0Reports said<\/a>\u00a0Maharashtra\u2019s state government extended restrictions until May 15.<\/p>\n Murhekar told CNBC that at the moment, very little is known about what proportion of the infected cases are due to a variant. He said India needs to step up its surveillance for variants so that there\u2019s meaningful data from each region and state on which variants are circulating in each.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n In April, India crossed 200,000 reported deaths. JHU data showed more than 48,000 people lost their lives to the disease last month.<\/p>\n Though the death rate is comparatively low, it is likely that there is an undercounting of fatalities as\u00a0multiple media reports<\/a>\u00a0suggest crematoriums and burial grounds are\u00a0overwhelmed with bodies<\/a>\u00a0of those who died from Covid-19.<\/p>\n The\u00a0international community has responded<\/a>\u00a0with promises to send help to India, including\u00a0$100 million in medical aid from the United States<\/a>.<\/p>\n Experts have said that India\u2019s best shot at tackling the outbreak is by stepping up its vaccination efforts.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Since launching its mass inoculation drive in January, India has administered more than 154 million vaccine doses as of April 30,\u00a0according to government data<\/a>.<\/p>\n That implies a little over 10% of the population has received at least one of the two shots required. But the percentage of people who have completed their vaccination is only about 2% of the total population, at around 27.9 million as of April.<\/p>\n Starting in May, India is opening vaccinations to anyone age 18 and older.<\/p>\n Murhekar said that the kind of herd immunity India needs to reduce transmission can only be achieved through vaccination.<\/p>\n \u201cIt will take many days and many months, basically, till we have a critical mass, which is vaccinated against Covid,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n But the country is facing vaccine shortages and several states have\u00a0reportedly run out of supply<\/a>.<\/p>\n The supply crunch is expected to last through July, according to the CEO of India\u2019s top vaccine maker, Serum Institute, which is producing\u00a0AstraZeneca\u2019s<\/a>\u00a0shot. Adar Poonawalla\u00a0recently told the Financial Times<\/a>\u00a0that his firm is set to increase vaccine production capacity from about 60 million to 70 million doses a month to 100 million.<\/p>\n The other vaccine being administered is Bharat Biotech\u2019s Covaxin.<\/p>\n New Delhi has recently approved the Russia-developed Sputnik V and authorized\u00a0foreign-made vaccines that have been granted emergency approval<\/a>\u00a0by the U.S., U.K., European Union, Japan and World Health Organization-listed agencies.<\/p>\n
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