Coronavirus: infections in India pass the five million mark

The number of confirmed coronavirus infections in India has exceeded five million, officials say, the second highest in the world after the United States.

The virus is spreading much faster in India than in any other country, with daily cases exceeding 90,000 for the five days through Tuesday.

More than 80,000 people have died, amid reports of shortages of intensive care beds and oxygen supplies.

But the death rate is lower than in many countries with a large number of cases.

The surge in infections comes as the government continues to lift restrictions across the country to try to boost an economy that lost millions of jobs when the virus struck in March.

In the initial stages of Covid-19, India appeared to be doing quite well, imposing a strict lockdown, but the virus then hit megacities like Mumbai and the capital Delhi before showing up in smaller cities and rural areas.

Despite the increase, the government has eased restrictions.

As India opens up its economy and people go back to work, Covid-19 cases have increased. Some 600,000 cases were added last week.

India’s case load is now 5,020,359 after it added 90,123 cases in the last 24 hours.

The demand for oxygen has increased exponentially recently.

Hospitals and care facilities are consuming as much as 2,700 tonnes of oxygen every day this month, compared to 750 tonnes in April, according to data obtained from the All India Association of Industrial Gas Manufacturers.

Oxygen manufacturers say industrial oxygen demand has also skyrocketed because more factories are now reopening.

States experiencing a worrying increase in infections (Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat, Rajasthan, Telangana, Andhra Pradesh) suffer the most. India is now grappling with a question of lives versus livelihoods, reports BBC India correspondent Soutik Biswas.

India will now need to increase capacity to ensure that both industries and patients do not suffer, our correspondent adds.

Most oxygen plants are built near large cities and towns. Therefore, supplies to remote districts where Covid-19 patients are filling hospitals must be shipped in special trucks carrying cryogenic tanks; India has about 1,500 vehicles of this type.

Many states (the capital, Delhi, for example) do not have a single oxygen manufacturer and all supplies must come from neighboring regions.