India’s COVID surge likely driven by ‘far more lethal’ variant: doctor
The skyrocketing number of COVID-19 cases in India is likely driven by a “far more infectious and probably far more deadly” variant — and is driving hospitals to “beyond [a] crisis point,” a top physician warned Tuesday.
Dr. Zarir Udwadia, who works in Mumbai hospitals and consults for the government, said he has seen “ward after ward full of patients struggling to breathe on ventilators of different forms and shapes.”
“It is really clear to me as it is to any physician, that this wave, perhaps variant-driven, is far more infectious and probably far more lethal than the first wave,” he told the BBC Radio 4’s “Today” program.
As hospitals become overwhelmed with patients, Udwadia warned that the situation is “beyond crisis point.”
The surging cases have left hospitals experiencing shortages of supplies, including oxygen, as patients wait in line to seek treatment.
“‘This virus has a country of 1.4 billion firmly in its stranglehold and it’s really exposed our threadbare health care system and our failure of leadership,” Udwadia said.
The physician also blamed “complacency” for the latest wave of cases in the country, which recorded more than 320,000 new infections on Tuesday.
“We let down our collective guard, and we were urged to by our leaders. Instead of being asked to be vigilant, we heard self-congratulatory declarations of victory,” he said.
“‘We thought we had won, because luck seemed to be conquering the first wave and all of that has been exposed as mere self-assured hubris.”
With 17.6 million infections to date, the country is behind only the US in its total case tally — but experts believe the true number could be far higher.
The health ministry on Tuesday also reported another 2,771 deaths in the past 24 hours, bringing the death count to nearly 198,000.
With Post wires
