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India Runs Out of COVID Vaccines, Delhi Runs Out of Room for Cremations

The official numbers of 386,000 new cases and 3,500 deaths are believed to be a significant undercount.

Several Indian states have run out of COVID-19 vaccines—a day before the country planned to widen its inoculation drive as it reels under a crushing new wave of infections. India is the world’s biggest producer of vaccines but only about 9 percent of India’s 1.4 billion people have received a vaccine dose since January. Vaccine producers have struggled to increase capacity beyond 80 million doses a month due to a shortage of raw materials and a fire at the Serum Institute, which manufactures AstraZeneca’s vaccine in India. Inoculation centers in Mumbai will be shut for three days starting Friday because of the shortage of vaccines, authorities said. Some 386,000 cases and 3,500 deaths were recorded Thursday but the numbers are believed to be a significant undercount. The BBC reported Friday that Delhi officials have told the Modi government that morgues and crematoriums are overrun and additional places are needed where the bodies of the COVID dead can be handled.