Vaccine shortages in India lack of oxygen and medical equipment medicine drives death toll.

 https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-56912977

A second wave of the COVID pandemic is continuing to have a devastating effect on India, which has seen oxygen supplies run perilously low and crematoriums operating non-stop.

India’s government is facing growing pressure to impose a nationwide lockdown to stem the devastating coronavirus surge.

In a bid to counter the criticism, India pledged billions of dollars to boost its flagging vaccine programme on Wednesday.

Source https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2021/5/5/deaths-due-to-oxygen-crisis-genocide-says-india-court-live-news

Source.

COVID-19 infections and deaths are mounting with alarming speed in India with no end in sight to the crisis and a top expert warning that the coming weeks in the country of nearly 1.4 billion people will be “horrible”.

India’s official count of coronavirus cases has surpassed 20 million, nearly doubling in the past three months, while deaths officially have passed 220,000. On Tuesday, the health ministry reported 357,229 new cases in the past 24 hours and 3,449 deaths from COVID-19.

The country has witnessed scenes of people dying outside overwhelmed hospitals and funeral pyres lighting up the night sky.

India’s top health official, Rajesh Bhushan, refused to speculate last month as to why authorities were not better prepared. But the cost is clear: People are dying because of shortages of bottled oxygen and hospital beds or because they could not get a COVID-19 test.

Dr Ashish Jha, the dean of Brown University’s School of Public Health in the United States, said he is concerned that Indian policymakers he has been in contact with believe things will improve in the next few days.

Moderna agrees to furnish vaccine by july.

Source.

According to projections of 3500 a day death count will exceed 4x current totals by August 1 30 days after arrival of moderna 1.2 million officially reported.is current projections. 

Worldwide, the study's authors say, the COVID-19 death count is nearing 7 million, more than double the reported number of 3.24 million.

The analysis comes from researchers at the University of Washington's Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation, who looked at excess mortality from March 2020 through May 3, 2021, compared it with what would be expected in a typical nonpandemic year, then adjusted those figures to account for a handful of other pandemic-related factors.

Source https://www.npr.org/sections/coronavirus-live-updates/2021/05/06/994287048/new-study-estimates-more-than-900-000-people-have-died-of-covid-19-in-u-s

India starts to see medical supplies trickle into new Delphi. 

https://www.hindustantimes.com/videos/coronavirus-crisis/india-receives-covid-medical-aid-from-france-germany-belgium-uzbekistan-101619930766829.html

https://www.hindustantimes.com/videos/coronavirus-crisis/watch-india-receives-3-oxygen-generators-1000-ventilators-arrive-from-uk-101620554552634.html

European union pledges support for India unfolding humanitarian crisis.

https://www.hindustantimes.com/videos/coronavirus-crisis/eu-stands-with-india-in-challenging-time-of-covid-european-commission-chief-101620537747957.html

If we get Joe up from his nap he might be able.to authorize our military to ship medicine.....

India has set a daily world record for over a week, with an average of nearly 350,000 infections. The daily death toll has almost tripled in the last three weeks, reflecting the recent surge.

In Uttar Pradesh’s most populous state, school teachers’ organizations reported that more than 550 members died after being infected with COVID-19 while helping to hold local parliamentary elections this month.

Experts have blamed new and more contagious variants of the virus and the proliferation of public rallies allowed to continue, such as political and religious rallies. On Thursday, millions voted for West Bengal’s state elections with little or no consideration of social distance.

In southern Karnataka, R. Revenue Minister Ashoka said nearly 2,000 coronavirus patients receiving home care were hung up and could not be tracked. He said police were trying to track them down because they might be seeking hospitalization on their own.

In central Madhya Pradesh, three villages in the Balaghat district have pooled funds to convert the building into a COVID-19 care center. They bought an oxygen concentrator and started hospitalization for the patient. Government doctors visit the facility twice a day.

India plans to strengthen its weakened vaccination drive by making jabs available to all adults over the age of 18 from Saturday. According to the Ministry of Health, it has been vaccinated 150 million times so far.

Nearly 10% of Indians have been vaccinated once since January, and India is one of the largest producers of vaccines in the world, but only about 1.5% have received both.

The ban of vaccine exports by India has now pressed Kenya to have no supply of vaccine. 

Health officials scrambling to obtain supply chain in Nairobi Kenya.

Sources face the nation. CBS 

https://www.reuters.com/business/healthcare-pharmaceuticals/who-seeks-fill-covid-19-vaccine-gap-left-by-india-suspending-exports-2021-05-03/

https://www.wral.com/countries-in-africa-fear-they-could-become-the-next-india-as-vaccine-supplies-dwindle/19667506/?version=amp

Ground sources.

COVAX is largely reliant on India's vaccine manufacturers who no longer supply the program because of India's own Covid crisis.

Kenyans who qualify for doses are already struggling to find them. Beatrice Gatu, a 60-year-old retired medical secretary, said she tried several district hospitals to find a dose -- but they had run out. They said she should try Kenyatta hospital, the nation's main referral hospital.

"I woke up at five in the morning just to get myself prepared to come to this place," she said, after receiving her vaccine.

Kenya's President Uhuru Kenyatta personally assured Kenyans they would be able to get their second dose if they'd received a first one.

But Martin Mutisya, a 53-year-old tour guide, has been keeping up with news -- he knew he had to hurry just to get his first shot.

The expected supply of 34 million doses of Moderna’s vaccine later in 2021 would help Covax achieve its goal for the year, but would make up a relatively small portion of the total. Moderna’s contribution could be more significant in 2022, when Covax has an option for the additional 466 million doses.

We are very pleased to sign this new agreement with Moderna, giving Covax Facility participants access to yet another highly efficacious vaccine,” said Gavi’s CEO, Dr. Seth Berkley.

They are given design patents to previous astra zeneca facility to manufacture vaccine options. 

The WHO issued last week an emergency-use authorization for Moderna’s Covid-19 vaccine for people aged 18 and older.

—Peter Loftus contributed to this article.

Wall street Journal.