India sets another massive COVID-19 daily record
India has set yet another COVID-19 record, recording more than 412,000 new cases in 24 hours.
Almost 4000 deaths have also been added to the tally.
The country is facing ongoing calls for a national lockdown, which leader Narendra Modi has said would be a last resort.
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India has recorded more than 412,000 new COVID-19 cases, and thousands of deaths, in 24 hours. AP
India's government has also been ordered by the Supreme Court to submit a plan to meet New Delhi hospitals' oxygen needs within a day.
The court decided against immediately punishing officials for failing to end a two-week-old erratic supply of oxygen to overstretched hospitals.
"Ultimately putting officers in jail or hauling officers for contempt will not bring oxygen. Please tell us steps to solve this," Justice Dhananjaya Yeshwant Chandrachud said.
The court stayed a contempt notice earlier issued to the government by the New Delhi High Court for defying its order to supply adequate oxygen to more than 40 New Delhi hospitals.
There are calls for the government to shut down the country. AP
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The government officials found guilty could have faced six months in prison and a fine.
On Tuesday, the New Delhi High Court court, which had summoned two Home Ministry officials for a hearing, said the grim reality was that hospitals are reducing the number of beds and asking patients to move elsewhere.
The court is hearing petitions filed by several hospitals and nursing homes struggling with irregular oxygen supplies.
"You can put your head in the sand like an ostrich, we will not. We are not going to take no for an answer," Justices Vipin Sanghi and Rekha Palli said.
There is urgent need for more oxygen in the Indian healthcare system. AP
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Raghav Chaddha, a spokesman for the Aam Aadmi Party governing New Delhi, said hospitals were getting only 40 percent of their 700-ton daily oxygen needs through the federal government, and the local government was arranging additional supplies to meet the shortfall and setting up new oxygen plants.
A massive wave of infections since April has pushed India's health care system to the brink, with people begging for oxygen cylinders and hospital beds on social media and news channels.
Efforts to scale up a vaccination drive are hampered by the shortage of doses. India, a country of nearly 1.4 billion people, has so far administered 160 million doses.
With Associated Press.
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