Covid-19 Wrap-up: ECI bans victory processions on or after counting day

Bengaluru gears up for a 2-week near-lockdown aimed at flattening a near-vertical caseload curve

Funeral pyres burned in parking lots, families ran from pillar to post for hospital beds and patients gasped for oxygen on Tuesday as the vicious second wave of Covid-19 ground remorselessly on.

Bengaluru geared up for a two-week near-lockdown aimed at flattening a near-vertical caseload curve. A day after daily Covid-19 cases in Maharashtra fell below the 50,000-mark, the tally shot up on Tuesday to 66,358 and posted the highest one-day death toll of 895.

But overall, deaths across India reached 1,97,894 (2,771 in the last 24 hours) and active cases touched 28,82,204, an increase of 2.44 per cent over the previous day. IIT scientists say that the country as a whole could see 38-48 lakh active cases as the current wave reaches a peak sometime next month.

On the occasion of Hanuman Jayanthi, Prime Minister Narendra Modi sought the blessings of the popular deity in the country's fight against Covid-19. Modi has received a lot of flak for his handling of the crisis, especially for continuing to campaign hard until recently in the Assembly elections in West Bengal, where the Bharatiya Janata Party is desperate to notch up its first win.

The Election Commission of India banned all victory processions in the four states and one union territory that conducted Assembly elections on counting day (May 2) and even after that to check the spread of Covid-19.

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi urged the Central Government to focus on vaccines, oxygen and other health services amid the pandemic instead of "spending on PR and unnecessary projects". His remarks were made in reference to the government's decision to go ahead with the Central Vista project amid the current crisis.

Spine-chilling newspaper images of dead bodies being burned at a parking lot of a crematorium in Gurgaon circulated on social media, and one journalist quoted a tweet that said: "If anyone has contacts at crematoria in Delhi/Gurgaon and can get a slot today or tomorrow, please message me."

In Beed, in Maharashtra, 22 bodies were stuffed into an ambulance. Neighbouring Gujarat finally disclosed that it has less than two-thirds the amount of oxygen that its sick residents need, and demand is growing. The state has faced repeated allegations of fudging its data on deaths, an accusation that is also being levelled at other Indian states.

India has pushed hard to get oxygen from production sites -- often steel plants -- to the states where it is needed most, including by a so-called Oxygen Express train. Some hospitals in Delhi said their oxygen stocks had improved and reopened admissions that had been suspended. Last week, 20 critically sick patients died at a Delhi hospital when their oxygen ran out.

The Centre has rapped the Arvind Kejriwal-led Delhi government for its alleged failure to arrange tankers for transportation of oxygen for the city's hospitals and said proactive actions by it could have "avoided tragic incidents". The Delhi High Court also said the AAP government's entire system had failed as black marketing of oxygen cylinders and crucial medicines to treat Covid-19 patients was going on.

Manish Aggarwal in Delhi celebrated with weary relief after laying his hands on precious doses of Covid-19 medication for his sick father -- a huge victory because thousands across the country have not been as lucky.

The glitzy Indian Premier League (IPL) continues despite three Australian cricketers leaving. The BCCI said that it would do everything to ensure that foreign players competing in the IPL reached their respective countries seamlessly once the tournament ended. Kolkata Knight Riders pacer Pat Cummins donated $50,000 to the PM CARES Fund to help with oxygen supplies for Covid-19-ravaged hospitals and backed the IPL to continue.