How India Went From A Ray Of Hope To A World Record For Most COVID Cases In A Day

All the hospitals are full.

"We can't find a hospital bed for him, but I can't just take him home after all this, in his condition," Naharshetivar told local TV, speaking through a pink patterned bandanna in lieu of a mask. They've been driving for 24 hours, he says. He glances back at his father, nervously. "His oxygen is running out."

Some 800 miles away in the capital New Delhi, several COVID-19 patients died on gurneys outside another hospital overnight Wednesday as relatives jostled them toward a crowded entrance. They couldn't get through the door in time.

On the other side of the country in Gujarat, in western India, a man sobs over the body of his relative, a cancer patient who'd also tested positive for the coronavirus and died in the parking lot of yet another overcrowded hospital, unable to get care. Arguments erupted over who was to blame.

Ghastly scenes are playing out at hospitals and clinics across India as the country's health system collapses under a sudden spike in coronavirus cases. On Thursday, India confirmed nearly 315,000 new infections over the preceding 24 hours – the highest single-day tally for any country on any day since the pandemic began.

As the health system breaks down, there are fears that law and order may follow: Oxygen tankers are traveling under police guard to fend off looters. The black market trade in medical equipment has soared. Vaccines were stolen Thursday from a hospital warehouse in Haryana – but then the thief returned them hours later, with a note of apology. Police say the thief may have intended to steal anti-viral drugs, which are also in short supply.

People are stockpiling oxygen tanks at home, figuring there's no use in even trying to get into a hospital anymore.

Social media are full of desperate pleas from Indians seeking hospital beds, oxygen, anti-viral drugs, vaccines. One longtime journalist live-tweeted his declining oxygen levels until he died.

"I have never felt so desperate or helpless," Dr. Trupti Gilada said in a Facebook video she recorded of herself, weeping as she huddled in her car outside the Mumbai hospital where she works. "We are seeing young people. We have a 35-year-old who's on a ventilator. Please pray for our patients."