‘ALMOST COLLAPSING’

India Capital Locks Back Down as Coronavirus Mega-Surge Pushes Hospitals to Limit

New Delhi’s chief minister said new measures are being imposed to “prevent a collapse of the health system,” which has “reached its limit.”

India’s capital city, New Delhi, was sent back into lockdown on Monday as a horrifying wave of infections showed no signs of slowing down across the nation. India recorded a staggering 270,000 infections on Monday—the biggest daily rise since the pandemic began over a year ago. New Delhi’s Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal told reporters that the new strict measures are being imposed to “prevent a collapse of the health system,” which he said had “reached its limit.” The weeklong lockdown will see all shops and factories shut their doors, except for ones that are deemed essential, such as grocery stores. Dr. Suresh Kumar, who heads up one of the city’s biggest hospitals, told the Associated Press that oxygen supplies are running out, and said: “People keep arriving, in an almost collapsing situation.” Queues of ambulances have reportedly been spotted waiting outside crematoriums waiting to drop off the dozens of dead bodies in each vehicle.