A top scientific adviser to the Indian government warned on Wednesday the country would inevitably face further waves of the coronavirus pandemic, as almost 4,000 people died in the space of a day.
Wailing relatives of a COVID-19 victim console each other as they reach to collect the body outside the mortuary of Civil Hospital in Ahmedabad, India, April 21, 2021. (Str/Xinhua)
With hospitals scrabbling for beds and oxygen in response to a deadly second surge in infections, the World Health Organization said in a weekly report that India accounted for nearly half the coronavirus cases reported worldwide last week and a quarter of the deaths.
Many people have died in ambulances and car parks waiting for a bed or oxygen, while morgues and crematoriums struggle to deal with a seemingly unstoppable flow of bodies.
The government's principal scientific adviser, K. VijayRaghavan, warned that even after infection rates subside the country should be ready for a third wave.
"Phase 3 is inevitable, given the high levels of circulating virus," he told a news briefing. "But it is not clear on what timescale this phase 3 will occur... We should prepare for new waves."
India’s delegation to the Group of Seven foreign ministers’ meeting in London is self-isolating after two of its members tested positive for COVID-19, Britain said on Wednesday
Foreign Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar, who is in London, said in a Twitter message that he would attend virtually.
