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The Indian Premier League was forced into its first coronavirus postponement this season on Monday after two players tested positive despite the tournament's bio-secure "bubble". The Kolkata Knight Riders' match against Virat Kohli's Royal Challengers Bangalore was called off just hours before its start in Ahmedabad after Varun Chakaravarthy and Sandeep Warrier became infected. The positive cases come as India's massive coronavirus surge raises questions about the IPL and concerns over the country's hosting of the Twenty20 World Cup in October and November. Chakaravarthy and Warrier "have isolated themselves from the rest of the squad" after testing positive, an IPL statement said. "All other team members have tested negative for Covid-19," it added. The league set up bio-secure bubbles around the eight teams before the tournament as a devastating wave of cases swept across India. The country is recording about 360,000 cases and 3,500 deaths a day and has been hit by chronic shortages of hospital beds and oxygen. The IPL said its doctors were in "continuous touch" with Chakaravarthy, a 29-year-old spinner, and 30-year-old fast bowler Warrier, and were monitoring their health. - 'Totally safe' - Media reports said the pair may have been infected when they left their team hotel for injury check-ups. "The medical team is also determining the close and casual contacts of the two positive cases during the 48 hours prior to collection of the sample that returned the positive test results," said the statement. All IPL games so far have been held behind closed doors, but after three Australian players left the tournament last week, organisers sought to reassure the remaining foreign stars that they are "totally safe". Adam Zampa, Andrew Tye and Kane Richardson left their IPL teams before the Australian government imposed a ban on arrivals from India. The Australian Cricket Board has said it is in daily contact with the Australian players still at the IPL. A number of players, including Bangalore's Australian all-rounder Daniel Sams and Delhi Capitals spinner Axar Patel, tested positive for the virus before the league started on April 9. The Board of Control for Cricket in India has stepped up coronavirus security as the surge has worsened. Players are tested every two days and cannot order food from outside their hotels. While some have questioned going ahead with the tournament during the health crisis, Indian cricket authorities, who stand to lose hundreds of millions of dollars if it is halted, have insisted it is helping to raise spirits. Kolkata's Australian fast bowler Pat Cummins, one of the most expensive imports, said last week "there has been quite a bit of discussion" over whether the IPL should continue as he announced a $50,000 donation to buy oxygen equipment. "I am advised that the Indian government is of the view that playing the IPL while the population is in lockdown provides a few hours of joy and respite each day," he added. BCCI acting chief executive Hemang Amin said players were "bringing hope to millions of people who have tuned in". His statement to players said they were "totally safe" in their secure bubbles and that this year they were "playing for something much more important... humanity".

* New cases rise by 300,000+ for 12th straight day * No. of positive cases to tests drops for first time since Apr 15 * Peak in cases may come May 3-5 - modelling * Epidemiologist calls for stay at home order, medical emergency   India on Monday reported more than 300,000 new coronavirus cases for a 12th straight day to take its overall caseload to just shy of 20 million, as scientists predicted a peak in infections in the coming days. With 368,147 new cases over the past 24 hours, India's total infections stand at 19.93 million, while total fatalities rose by 3,417 to 218,959, according to health ministry data. Medical experts say real numbers across the country of 1.35 billion may be five to 10 times higher than the official tally. But the health ministry offered a glimmer of hope, reporting that positive cases relative to the number of tests conducted fell on Monday for the first time since at least April 15. India's coronavirus cases may peak between May 3-5, according to a mathematical model from a team of scientists advising the government, a few days earlier than a previous estimate as the virus has spread faster than expected. Hospitals have filled to capacity, medical oxygen supplies have run short and morgues and crematoriums have been swamped as the country deals with the surge in cases. At least 11 states and union territories have imposed some form of restrictions to try and stem infections, but Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government is reluctant to impose a national lockdown, concerned about the economic impact. "In my opinion, only a national stay at home order and declaring medical emergency will help to address the current healthcare needs," Bhramar Mukherjee, an epidemiologist with the University of Michigan said on Twitter. "The # of active cases is accumulating, not just the daily new cases. Even the reported numbers state there are around 3.5M active cases." The spike in infections is India’s biggest crisis since Modi took office in 2014. Modi has been criticised for not taking steps earlier to curb the spread and for letting millions of largely unmasked people attend religious festivals and crowded political rallies in five states during March and April. A forum of scientific advisers set up by the government warned Indian officials in early March of a new and more contagious variant of the coronavirus taking hold in the country, five scientists who are part of the forum told Reuters. Despite the warning, four of the scientists said the federal government did not seek to impose major restrictions to stop the spread of the virus. It remains to be seen how his handling of the crisis might affect Modi or his party politically. The next general election is due in 2024. Modi's party was defeated in India's West Bengal state in results declared on Sunday, although it won in the neighbouring state of Assam. Leaders of 13 opposition parties on Sunday signed a letter urging Modi to immediately launch free national vaccination and to prioritise oxygen supply to hospitals and health centres. Several states have postponed widening a vaccination drive for adults that was to start on Saturday due to a lack of vaccines. The national health ministry says states have 10 million vaccines stockpiled and 2 million more coming in the next three days. Despite being the world's biggest producer of vaccines, India does not have enough for itself - undermining a plan to ramp up and widen inoculation from Saturday. Only about 9% of its 1.4 billion people have had a dose. India has struggled to increase capacity beyond 80 million doses a month due to lack of raw materials and a fire at the Serum Institute, which makes the AstraZeneca vaccine. International aid has been pouring into India. Britain will send another 1,000 ventilators to India, the government said on Sunday. Prime ministers Boris Johnson and Modi are scheduled to talk on Tuesday. The Indian Covid-19 variant has now reached at least 17 countries including Britain, Switzerland and Iran, leading several governments to close their borders to people travelling from India.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Hindu-nationalist party suffered a setback yesterday when it lost a tightly contested and violence-hit state poll. India held its biggest democratic exercise in two years over the past month, with 175mn people eligible to vote in five regional elections. But the marathon polls involved huge rallies where many attendees were maskless, and a record-breaking coronavirus spike coincided with the final phases of voting. The most important election was in the eastern state of West Bengal, home to 90mn people. Modi and his right-hand man, Home Minister Amit Shah, campaigned heavily in the state as they sought to end a decade of rule by firebrand leader Mamata Banerjee. But as results started trickling, they showed Banerjee’s Trinamool Congress (TMC) party on course for a third term. Thousands of TMC supporters took to the streets, despite a virus-related ban on celebrations. In a victory speech later yesterday, 66-year-old Banerjee said West Bengal’s “immediate challenge is to combat the Covid-19 and we are confident that we will win”. “This victory has saved the humanity, the people of India. It’s the victory of India,” Banerjee, a fierce critic of Modi, added. Modi tweeted his congratulations but added that his party had grown its support in the state “from a negligible presence earlier”. Banerjee however lost her seat in Nandigram, to a former confidant who defected to Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). She vowed to challenge the loss in court. She can still be sworn back in as chief minister, but has to be elected in another constituency within six months. Earlier, polling for two constituencies was postponed after two candidates died of Covid-19. The BJP retained the northeastern state of Assam. In Puducherry, a small former French colony previously known as Pondicherry, the BJP was expected to come to power through an alliance amid efforts to increase its presence in the country’s south, where it has been traditionally weak. In the southern state of Tamil Nadu, M K Stalin returned his DMK party to power after a decade by defeating an incumbent coalition that has the BJP as its national partner. In Kerala in the south, where the BJP until now has played only a bit part, a left-wing alliance retained power with a comfortable victory over a Congress-led coalition. It was the first time a government in the state had been re-elected since 1977. Experts blame complacency about the virus, as well as religious festivals attended by millions of devotees and political rallies, for the virus crisis in the world’s second-most populous nation.

More emergency medical aid from foreign donors to alleviate a dire oxygen shortage arrived in India on Sunday, as Covid-19 deaths in the South Asian nation rose to a new record. India is setting almost-daily records for new infections and deaths as the virus crisis engulfs overstretched hospitals in cities and spreads into rural regions. The country of 1.3 billion reported 3,689 deaths on Sunday -- the highest single-day rise yet in the pandemic, to take the overall toll to more than 215,000. Just under 400,000 infections were added, bringing the total number of cases past 19.5 million. The latest figures came as medical equipment, including oxygen-generation plants, was flown into the capital New Delhi from France and Germany as part of a huge international effort. "We are here because we are bringing help that... will save lives," Germany's ambassador to India, Walter J. Lindner, said as 120 ventilators arrived late Saturday. "Out there the hospitals are full. People are sometimes dying in front of the hospitals. They have no more oxygen. Sometimes (they are dying) in their cars." French ambassador Emmanuel Lenain said his country wanted to show solidarity with India. "The epidemic is still going on in one country. The world won't be safe until we are all safe. So it's a matter of urgency," he said early Sunday following the delivery of eight oxygen-generation plants and dozens of ventilators from France. There are growing fears about the surge of the virus in rural regions where health infrastructure is already patchy and limited. Hospitals in Delhi have continued to issue SOS calls for oxygen on social media, with the latest appeal posted by a children's hospital on Twitter on Sunday. The plea came a day after up to a dozen patients died at a Delhi hospital amid an oxygen shortage, local media reported. India on Saturday opened up its inoculation drive to all adults, but supplies are running low and only online enrolments are allowed for those aged under 45. "It is a necessity now. We are seeing so many people testing positive," data scientist Megha Srivastava, 35, told AFP outside a Delhi vaccination centre as she waited for her shot. "We are coming from 20 kilometres away as this was the only place available." Experts have called on the government to allow more flexibility in the vaccine rollout, particularly in poorer rural areas where there is lower internet penetration. "We should procure sufficient vaccines, then plan bottom-up through... the primary health centre level," Bangalore-based public health expert Hemant Shewade told AFP. "Take vaccines to the people the way we have implemented our polio and measles campaigns."

India’s devastating Covid-19 surge further accelerated yesterday with more than 400,000 new cases in 24 hours, as vaccinations opened to all adults despite shortages of shots. The hard-hit capital New Delhi meanwhile extended its shutdown for another week while top US pandemic adviser Anthony Fauci said that India should go into a national lockdown for “a few weeks”.Two months ago the health minister said India was in the “end game” of the pandemic as it sent millions of vaccines abroad, but now exports have stopped and people are desperate to be inoculated. A crowd of people formed outside one Delhi hospital yesterday — one of very few offering shots to those under 45 years old. “There are so many people that are getting sick...so we just wanted to be here as soon as possible,” said one of those waiting, Aadya Mehta, 25. Until now, only “frontline” workers like medical staff, people over 45 and those with pre-existing illnesses have been given the AstraZeneca or Covaxin shots. But even this more modest programme has stumbled, with some areas running out of jabs and others throwing them away because of lack of demand, in part because some people are scared to leave home during this recent surge. So far, around 150mn shots have been administered, equating to 11.5% of the population of 1.3bn people. Just 25mn have had two doses. With the expansion of the rollout to all adults, around 600mn more people are now eligible to get vaccinated, but many states said they have insufficient stocks. Millions of younger people terrified by the current situation and desperate to get inoculated registered on the government’s digital platform. But very few of them have been given appointments and only around half a dozen of India’s 28 states began vaccinating people under 45, and in many cases only a token scale. “Half my family is positive, so everybody wanted us to get vaccinated,” data scientist Megha Srivastava, 35, said outside the Max clinic, one of three private hospitals in the capital vaccinating younger people. “It won’t completely protect us, but it will ensure that even if we get infected, we’ll recover,” she said. Further confusion has been created by the government’s decision to ask states and private hospitals to order vaccine supplies on their own. “We have contacted Serum Institute of India that has said they will be able to provide doses only after six months,” D S Rana, chair of the Sir Ganga Ram Hospital in Delhi, told the Hindustan Times daily. C K Bakshi, a doctor at one government hospital, said there was “no issue with supply” and was vaccinating almost 300 people a day. But it did not have government permission to jab under 45s, she said. In Kolkata, Rupak Barua, president of the Association of Hospitals of Eastern India (AHEI), said that “confusion reigns”. “The whole thing looks like a confused elephant to me right now,” said T Jacob John, a retired clinical virology professor at the Christian Medical College Vellore. “Do you want to control the epidemic, save lives or both? If you want both you’ll require a huge amount of vaccines. And we don’t have it,” John said. He and other experts say that given the shortages, and its colossal population, India should have a much more targeted policy, concentrating vaccinations in hotspots. Gujarat is among the few states to have said they would do so, with chief minister Vijay Rupani saying Friday that vaccinations for over-18s would happen only in the 10 worst-hit districts. Fauci said in an interview with the Indian Express published Saturday that India was “in a very difficult and desperate situation” and that it “absolutely (has) to get more people vaccinated”. Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government has resisted imposing a national shutdown lockdown but many states have imposed heavy restrictions. Russia yesterday became the latest country to send aid, with the first shipment of 150,000 Sputnik V vaccines arriving by aircraft. Indian firms also have deals to produce millions of doses of other vaccines including Sputnik V and Johnson & Johnson’s single-dose vaccine, but it could be months until these are deployed. People suffering from the coronavirus disease (Covid-19) are treated inside an overcrowded casualty ward at a hospital in New Delhi, yesterday. 

* 3,523 deaths reported over past 24 hours * People queue for scarce vaccines * Modi prays at Sikh temple India posted a record daily rise of 401,993 new coronavirus cases on Saturday as the country opened up its massive vaccination drive to all adults, although several states warned of acute shortages. It was the first time India's daily case count had topped 400,000 after 10 consecutive days over 300,000. Deaths from Covid-19 jumped by 3,523 over the past 24 hours, taking the total toll in India to 211,853, according to official data. The world's biggest producer of Covid-19 vaccines has a limited number of shots available, worsening a grim second wave of infections that has overwhelmed hospitals and morgues while families scramble for scarce medicines and oxygen. Hundreds of people were seen queuing to be vaccinated across Ahmedabad, the main commercial city in Prime Minister Narendra Modi's home state of Gujarat, on Saturday. The chief minister of the hard-hit state of Delhi on Friday implored people not to queue at vaccination centres, promising more vaccines would arrive "tomorrow or the day after". India's eastern Odisha state said on Friday it had received a consignment of 150,000 shots but would only allow a few people to get shots due to lockdown restrictions preventing movement. A fire in a hospital about 190 km south of Ahmedabad killed 16 coronavirus patients and two staff, the latest in a series of deadly accidents at hospitals. Modi offered his condolences to the families of the hospital fire victims on Twitter, hours after he posted pictures of himself praying at a Sikh temple in capital New Delhi. Some experts blame mass religious gatherings and political rallies for the severity of India's second wave, which caught the government unprepared. A forum of scientific advisers set up by Modi administration warned Indian officials in early March of a new and more contagious variant of the coronavirus taking hold in the country, five scientists who are part of the forum told Reuters. Despite the warning, four of the scientists said the federal government did not seek to impose major restrictions to contain the spread of the virus. Millions, largely unmasked, attended religious gatherings and election rallies that were held by Modi, leaders of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party and opposition politicians. The total number of Covid cases in India has topped 19 million. As the second wave has picked up steam, India has added about 7.7 million cases since the end of February, according to a Reuters tally. In contrast, it took India nearly six months to add the previous 7.7 million cases. The surge in cases led US President Joe Biden to impose new travel restrictions on India on Friday, barring most non-US citizens from entering the United States. Australian officials said residents and citizens who have been in India within 14 days of the date they plan to return home will be banned from entering Australia as of Monday, and those who disobey will face fines and jail. Other countries and territories have also imposed similar travel restrictions on India, including Britain, Germany, Italy and Singapore, while Canada, Hong Kong and New Zealand have suspended all commercial travel with India.

At least 16 Covid-19 patients and two nurses died Saturday in the latest in a series of hospital fires in India, officials said, as the country's health care system buckles under a surge in cases. There were around 50 other patients at the four-storey hospital in Bharuch in the western state of Gujarat when the blaze began at 1:00 am (0730 GMT). It has since been put out. The death toll stood at 18, local police official Rajendrasinh Chudasama told AFP, "including 16 patients and two nurses." "Primary investigation revealed that the fire started due to a short-circuit in the ICU of the hospital," he said. On April 23 a fire on the outskirts of Mumbai killed 13 Covid-19 patients, a few days after another blaze left 22 people dead at another clinic, also in Maharashtra state. India's health care system has long suffered from underfunding, and the new virus outbreak has seen critical shortages in oxygen, drugs and hospital beds, with patients dying outside hospitals in some areas. On Saturday India reported over 400,000 new Covid cases in 24 hours for the first time, the first country to do so in the pandemic, official data showed. Many experts suspect that because of insufficient testing and inaccurate recording of cause of death, the real numbers are much higher.

Fresh coronavirus waves showed no sign of abating Saturday as devastating surges in India and Brazil pushed daily infections and deaths to record levels. Despite the rollout of vaccines in many countries, Covid-19 is still wreaking destruction around the world, with close to 3.2 million lives lost and known infections soaring past 150 million. Asia has recorded the bulk of new cases, driven largely by the surge in India. The crushing outbreak, which now accounts for more than 40 percent of the world's new infections, has overwhelmed the South Asian nation's healthcare system and depleted critical oxygen supplies. Authorities on Saturday opened India's massive vaccination programme to all adults, but many states do not have enough doses to meet demand despite a freeze on exports of shots produced locally. "There are so many people that are getting sick... we just wanted to be here as soon as possible," said Aadya Mehta, 25, who joined a queue of around 100 people outside a hospital in the capital New Delhi. India reported more than 400,000 cases in 24 hours on Saturday, a global record, but experts say the official infection and death figures fall far short of the true picture. More than 40 countries have committed to sending medical aid. A US military aircraft carrying more than 400 oxygen cylinders, other hospital equipment and nearly one million rapid coronavirus tests arrived in New Delhi on Friday. But the crisis has also prompted travel warnings and flight bans with governments fearful of the outbreak spreading to their shores. Australia on Saturday warned those breaking its India travel ban could face five years in jail. Another vast nation struggling to inoculate as many people as possible in the face of a destructive spike is Brazil, which has one of the world's highest mortality rates at 189 deaths per 100,000 people. It reported nearly 2,600 new coronavirus deaths on Friday, bringing the total for April to 82,266 -- the second consecutive monthly record and a sharp rise from March. The surge has pushed Brazil's hospitals to the brink of collapse in many areas as the country's overall death toll crossed 400,000 this week. Demonstrators from the human rights group Rio de Paz lowered Brazilian flags and mock body bags into symbolic graves at Rio de Janeiro's famous Copacabana beach on Friday, protesting the government's handling of the crisis. "Those body bags represent the Brazilians who had to be buried in shallow graves," said Antonio Carlos Costa, the NGO's president. "They died without the slightest dignity." Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro was widely criticised for downplaying the threat of the virus, and for fighting stay-at-home measures. The far-right president has defended his pandemic policies, telling supporters: "I was wrong about nothing." The outbreak in neighbouring Argentina also continued to worry the government, which on Friday extended by three weeks a nightly coronavirus curfew for the capital Buenos Aires. In terms of total Covid-19 deaths, Brazil is behind only the United States, where the situation has taken a turn for the better in recent months with a successful vaccine rollout. The White House said Friday that 100 million people in the country had been fully vaccinated, and more than 55 percent of American adults had received at least one dose. The huge effort has meant coronavirus restrictions in many parts of the United States can be eased. Fans wearing Mickey Mouse ears lined up at Disneyland in California as it finally reopened Friday, more than 400 days after the pandemic forced its closure. "It is the greatest feeling ever," said Momi Young-Wilkins, a 55-year-old mother as she brought her children to the world-famous park near Los Angeles. Thanks to vaccinations, some European governments have also eased or are considering relaxing coronavirus restrictions, including France and Belgium. But the hugely uneven distribution of vaccines around the world has led to calls for greater access in poor nations and waivers for patent protections to help boost access. A US trade official said Friday that Washington was working with World Trade Organization members to ensure "equitable" access to vaccines but stopped short of signalling a commitment to waiving patent protections.

The first US emergency aid to India arrived yesterday as several states said they would be unable to begin vaccinating all over-18s from this weekend as planned. The supplies arrived as India recorded another 385,000 new cases in the past 24 hours — a new global record — and almost 3,500 deaths, according to official data that many experts suspect falls short of the true toll. A US Super Galaxy military transporter carrying more than 400 oxygen cylinders, other hospital equipment and nearly 1mn rapid coronavirus tests landed at New Delhi’s international airport early yesterday. The first of several shipments, which flew in from the Travis military base in California, followed talks this week between US President Joe Biden and India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi. More than 40 countries have committed to sending vital medical aid, particularly oxygen supplies, Foreign Secretary Harsh Vardhan Shringla told reporters Thursday. The promised supplies from Britain, Russia, UAE, Qatar, Australia and elsewhere include almost 550 oxygen-generating plants, more than 4,000 oxygen concentrators, 10,000 oxygen cylinders as well as 17 cryogenic tankers. Hundreds of thousands of doses of Covid-19 treatment drugs as well as raw materials to produce vaccines and remdesivir were also being sent, he added. China’s foreign ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin said that Beijing — whose relations with New Delhi are strained — has sent more than 26,000 ventilators and oxygen concentrators, over 15,000 patient monitors and nearly 3,800 tonnes of medical materials and medicines. New Delhi yesterday issued a statement after a phone call between India’s External Affairs Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar and his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi. “External affairs highlighted in this regard that Indian entities were already in the process of commercially procuring required products and raw materials from suppliers in China,” the statement said. “The Minister said that this process would be facilitated if various transport corridors and cargo flights remained open and the necessary logistics support ensured expeditiously,” the ministry added. New Delhi said that Wang promised that Beijing “would ensure that all the required materials flow to Indian entities without any delay.” Japan yesterday also said it would despatch 300 oxygen concentrators and 300 ventilators to India. More than 200,000 have now died from the virus in India, more than 45,000 of them in April, although many other nations have suffered far worse death rates on a per capita basis. Brazil, with a population around a sixth of India, has recorded more than 400,000 deaths. In many areas outside the main hotspots of New Delhi and Maharashtra, hospitals are running out of beds as relatives of the sick desperately hunt for medicines and oxygen cylinders. Many crematoriums are facing shortages of wood because of the surge in deaths, with each pyre requiring between 300 and 400 kilos of wood. Some in the western city of Surat have started using wood that is not entirely dry and crop waste, pouring petrol on the pyre so that the wet wood burns properly. Kamlesh Sailor, manager of the Kurukshetra Crematorium in Surat said they were setting up four new wooden pyre stands. “This will be in addition to the existing eight wooden pyre stands and five gas furnaces that are in use round the clock,” Sailor said. The Indian government will open vaccinations to all adults from today, meaning around 600mn more people will be eligible. But several states have warned they do not have sufficient stocks, and the expanded rollout is threatened by administrative bickering, confusion over prices and technical glitches on the government’s digital vaccine platform. Financial hub Mumbai, one of the major cities reeling from the new wave, said late Thursday that it would halt jabs from yesterday to tomorrow “owing to non-availability of vaccine stock”. Until now, only “frontline” workers like medical staff, people over 45 and those with existing illnesses have been given the AstraZeneca shot or Bharat Biotech’s homegrown Covaxin.

The Biden administration has confirmed that the US will restrict travel from India starting Tuesday in response to the surge of coronavirus cases and variants being observed in the country. "On the advice of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the administration will restrict travel from India starting immediately," White House press secretary Jen Psaki said in a statement on Friday. "The policy will be implemented in light of extraordinarily high Covid-19 caseloads and multiple variants circulating in the India. The policy will take effect on May 4." The administration will issue a 212(f) order restricting entry into the US for foreign nationals who have been in India within the previous 14 days, a source familiar with the move said. Airlines have been told of the decision, a source said.     

* Inoculation campaign stuttering due to shortages * Morgues, hospitals, medical stores reeling * New infections hit another global record Several states in India have run out of vaccines against Covid-19, exacerbating a dire second wave of infections that has left hospitals and morgues overflowing while families scramble for increasingly scarce medicines and oxygen. "Come back to us. How will we live without you?" wailed Aanchal Sharma and her mother-in-law over the lifeless body of her husband, waiting like so many others for their turn at a crematorium on the outskirts of New Delhi. In the parking lot, more than 10 ambulances containing corpses lined up while workers cleared ashes from pyres that had spilled over from the main cremation area. Second only to the United States in total infections, India has reported more than 300,000 new cases daily for nine days in a row, hitting another global record of 386,452 on Friday. Total deaths have surpassed 200,000 and cases are nearing 19 million - nearly 8 million since February alone as virulent new strains have combined with "super-spreader" events such as political rallies and religious festivals. Medical experts say real numbers may be five to 10 times higher than the official tally. Patients have been begging for spaces in hospitals while oxygen tanks are scarce and prized. Despite being the world's biggest producer of vaccines, India now does not have enough for itself - undermining a plan to ramp up and widen inoculation from Saturday. Only about 9% of its 1.4 billion people have had a dose. "I registered to get a slot 28 days before, but now they are saying there are no vaccines," complained Jasmin Oza on Twitter. India has struggled to increase capacity beyond 80 million doses a month due to lack of raw materials and a fire at the Serum Institute, which makes the AstraZeneca vaccine. Authorities in the financial capital Mumbai said inoculation centres were closing for three days, while Delhi's chief minister Arvind Kejriwal told citizens not to show up for vaccinations on Saturday as doses had not yet arrived. Karnataka state, home to tech hub Bengaluru, postponed its new vaccination drive for adults that was to start on Saturday. However, officials in Prime Minister Narendra Modi's western home state of Gujarat said vaccinations for those aged between 18 and 45 would begin on Saturday in worst-hit districts. And contradicting some of the local governments, the national health ministry said states had 10 million vaccines stockpiled and 2 million more coming in the next three days. Modi met on Friday with his cabinet, which recognised a "once in a century" crisis in India. With India's health system reeling and absenteeism from the workplace soaring - as staff fall ill or take care of relatives - international aid has begun pouring in. A first US aid flight with oxygen cylinders, regulators, rapid diagnostic kits, masks and pulse oximeters arrived. "Just as India came to our aid early in the pandemic, the United States is committed to working urgently to provide assistance to India in its time of need," US Secretary of State Antony Blinken tweeted. Washington is sending more than $100 million worth of supplies and has redirected its own order of AstraZeneca vaccines to India, providing another 20 million doses. Britain, Ireland and Romania have also sent help, and a first batch of Russia's Sputnik V vaccine was due on Saturday. On the streets, Indians were hoarding supplies. "Anything related to oxygen ... our sales have doubled," said medical store owner Vipul Garg in Uttar Pradesh state. Medicines were starting to run short in some parts. "People are panicking a lot. People are unnecessarily hoarding medicines, even those who don't need them," added another business owner Sanjay Sharma, also in Uttar Pradesh. Bringing some hope to the crisis, a team of scientists advising India's government said cases may peak next week between May 3-5 - earlier than initially forecast

The first US emergency aid to India arrived on Friday as the country battles a devastating surge in Covid-19 cases which has overwhelmed hospitals and crematoriums. The supplies arrived as India recorded another 385,000 new cases in the past 24 hours -- a new global record -- and almost 3,500 deaths, according to official data that many experts suspect falls short of the true toll. A US Super Galaxy military transporter carrying more than 400 oxygen cylinders, other hospital equipment and nearly one million rapid coronavirus tests landed at New Delhi's international airport early Friday. The delivery, which flew in from the Travis military base in California, followed talks this week between US President Joe Biden and India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi. US officials said other special flights, which will also bring equipment donated by companies and individuals, are set to continue into next week. More than 40 countries have committed to sending vital medical aid, particularly oxygen supplies, Foreign Secretary Harsh Vardhan Shringla told reporters Thursday. The promised supplies from Britain, Russia, UAE, Qatar, Australia and elsewhere include almost 550 oxygen-generating plants, more than 4,000 oxygen concentrators, 10,000 oxygen cylinders as well as 17 cryogenic tankers. Hundreds of thousands of doses of Covid-19 treatment drugs as well as raw materials to produce vaccines and remdesivir, were also being sent, he added. ‘It is an unprecedented situation,’ Shringla said. Japan is the latest to offer help, announcing Friday it would despatch 300 oxygen concentrators and 300 ventilators to India. ‘Japan stands with India, our friend and partner, in her efforts to fight (the) Covid-19 pandemic through this additional emergency assistance,’ the foreign ministry said. - Doused with petrol -More than 200,000 have now died from the virus in India, more than 45,000 of them in April, although many other nations have suffered far worse death rates on a per capita basis. Brazil, with a population around a sixth of India, has recorded more than 400,000 deaths. In many areas outside the main hotspots of New Delhi and Maharashtra, hospitals are running out of beds as relatives of the sick desperately hunt for medicines and oxygen cylinders. Many crematoriums are facing shortages of wood because of the surge in deaths, with each pyre requiring between 300 and 400 kilos (700-900 pounds) of wood. Some in the western city of Surat have started using wood that is not entirely dry and crop waste, pouring petrol on the pyre so that the wet wood burns properly. Kamlesh Sailor, manager of the Kurukshetra Crematorium in Surat said they were setting up four new wooden pyre stands. ‘This will be in addition to the existing eight wooden pyre stands and five gas furnaces that are in use round the clock,’ Sailor said. - Faltering vaccinations -The Indian government will open vaccinations to all adults from Saturday, meaning around 600 million more people will be eligible. But several states have warned they do not have sufficient stocks, and the expanded rollout is threatened by administrative bickering, confusion over prices and technical glitches on the government's digital vaccine platform. Financial hub Mumbai, one of the major cities reeling from the new wave, said late Thursday that it would halt jabs from Friday to Sunday ‘owing to non-availability of vaccine stock’. Until now, only ‘frontline’ workers like medical staff, people over 45 and those with existing illnesses have been given the AstraZeneca shot or Bharat Biotech's homegrown Covaxin. But even this more modest programme has faltered. So far around 150 million shots have been administered, equating to 11.5 percent of the population of 1.3 billion people. Just 25 million have had two shots.                

Millions voted in the final phase of a marathon election in India’s West Bengal yesterday, despite a record-breaking spike in Covid-19 infections and deaths that has devastated the country. Long queues of voters appeared outside polling booths as temperatures soared. Many in rural parts of the state failed to observe social distancing rules, with some wearing masks but others hanging them loosely on their chins or from their ears. Sporadic violence was reported from several constituencies, with crude bombs thrown and vehicles damaged. Thousands have been killed in political violence in West Bengal over the decades, and this year’s polls – held in eight phases over the course of a month – have also triggered deadly clashes between rival parties. Winning power in the state of 90mn would be a major victory for Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Hindu-nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party, which is seeking to end a decade of rule by the state’s firebrand leader Mamata Banerjee. Nearly 8.5mn people are eligible to vote in the eighth phase of polling in the state. Results will be released on May 2. “In line with the Covid-19 protocols, I call upon people to cast their vote and enrich the festival of democracy,” Modi tweeted yesterday. Packed election rallies attended by mostly maskless crowds including in the restive eastern state, along with huge religious festivals, have been blamed for India’s surge in cases over the past few weeks. Before and since voting kicked off in late March, the Indian leader, along with Banerjee and other minor parties, held numerous rallies before cutting back as virus cases grew.

India’s mammoth push to beat its raging Covid surge with vaccinations looks troubled, with its vast inoculation programme plagued by shortages, confusion and political squabbles. From tomorrow, just as the country reels from a brutal explosion of cases, an estimated 500-600mn Indians will become eligible when the drive is opened to all adults. Until now, only “frontline” workers like medical staff, people over 45 and those with existing illnesses have been given the AstraZeneca shot or Bharat Biotech’s homegrown Covaxin. But even this more modest programme has faltered, with some areas running out of shots and others throwing them away because of a lack of demand, in part due to hesitancy. “The queues here are so colossal,” said Jayanti Vasant as he waited at a busy vaccination centre in Mumbai. “The people are just fighting amongst themselves.” So far around 150mn shots have been administered, equating to 11.5% of the population of 1.3bn people. Just 25mn have had two shots. According to the government, Indian states have stocks of more than 10mn shots and a further 8mn will be made available in the coming days. The Serum Institute is making 60mn-70mn AstraZeneca doses per month, and is aiming for 100mn by July. Bharat is aiming to produce 10mn a month and targets 60mn-70mn. Indian firms also have deals to produce other shots including Russia’s Sputnik V — some of which should arrive soon — Johnson & Johnson’s single-dose vaccine and Novomax. But it could be months until these are deployed. “Do you want to control the epidemic, save lives or both? If you want both you’ll require a huge amount of vaccines. And we don’t have it.” said T Jacob John, a retired clinical virology professor at the Christian Medical College, Vellore. Several states have said they don’t have enough shots to start vaccinating all over-18s, including Maharashtra and New Delhi, two of the worst-hit areas. But despite this, and even though people have to register on a government app but there may still be a rush at vaccination centres tomorrow. On Wednesday, when online registration began, more than 13mn people signed up and users complained of technical glitches. Further confusion has been created by New Delhi’s decision to ask states and private hospitals to order vaccine supplies on their own, creating a three-tier pricing system that requires them to pay more per dose than the central government. This has led to squabbles between the central government, run by Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party, and states governed by opposition parties. Anecdotal evidence suggests that some private clinics have been told they won’t receive any vials for months. Experts say that given the shortages, and its colossal population, India should have a much more targeted vaccination policy than just opening up its programme to everyone over 18. This could include concentrating vaccinations in hotspots — some 75% of cases are in nine out of India’s 36 regions — and higher-risk population groups. Oxygen crisis to ease by mid-May: executive India’s severe medical oxygen supply crisis is expected to ease by mid-May, a top industry executive said, with output rising by 25% and transport infrastructure ready to cope with a surge in demand caused by a dramatic rise in coronavirus cases. Dozens of hospitals in cities such as New Delhi and Mumbai have run short of the gas this month, sending relatives of patients scrambling for oxygen cylinders, sometimes in vain. Medical oxygen consumption in India has shot up more than eight-fold from usual levels to about 7,200 tonnes per day this month, said Moloy Banerjee of Linde, the country’s biggest producer. “This is what is causing the crisis because no one was prepared for it, particularly the steep curve up,” Banerjee, who heads the company’s South Asia gas business, said yesterday. Linde – whose two affiliates in the country are Linde India and Praxair India – and other suppliers are ramping up production to a total of more than 9,000 tonnes per day by the middle of next month, he said.

India's coronavirus disaster deepened on Thursday with its daily death toll climbing above 3,600, as more international aid was flown in with the United States sending nearly one million test kits. The United States and several European nations have started to ease restrictions this week following successful vaccination campaigns, but the pandemic continues to worsen in many parts of the world. Among the most devastating of those waves is in India, where the death and infection rates have been rising exponentially throughout April. On Thursday, India reported 3,645 deaths over the past 24 hours, while confirmed new cases were a global record at more than 379,000. The official numbers are widely believed to be far lower than the reality. The pandemic has claimed at least 3.1 million lives around the world, with India accounting for more than 200,000 fatalities. In many Indian cities, hospitals are running out of beds as relatives of the sick crowd outside pharmacies and suppliers for medicines and oxygen cylinders. ‘We rushed to multiple hospitals, but were denied admission everywhere,’ said the son of an 84-year-old woman who died at home this week after a desperate search for a hospital bed and oxygen in Kolkata, capital of West Bengal state. The spiking body count has also overwhelmed crematoriums and graveyards, and caused a shortage of wood for funeral pyres. The Indian government will open vaccinations to all adults from Saturday. It had previously limited shots to the over-45s and certain other groups. Several states have warned, however, that they do not have sufficient vaccine stocks and the expanded rollout is threatened by administrative bickering, confusion over prices and technical glitches on the government's digital vaccine platform. Many nations have rushed to help India, including the United States which on Wednesday announced it was sending more than $100 million in supplies. A first US military flight, carrying 960,000 rapid tests and 100,000 face masks for frontline health workers, was due to arrive on Thursday. The World Health Organization has said the virus variant feared to be contributing to the catastrophe in India has now been found in more than a dozen countries. But the body stopped short of saying it is more transmissible, more deadly or able to dodge vaccines. Ugur Sahin, the co-founder of vaccine developer and Pfizer partner BioNTech, said he was confident his company's shot works against that variant. - 'Ready for takeoff' – In the United States, President Joe Biden on Wednesday hailed his nation's inoculation programme as one of ‘the greatest logistical achievements’ in American history. More than 234 million doses had been administered by Wednesday in the United States, according to the Centers for Disease Control. The rollout has boosted hopes that the world's biggest economy is primed for recovery. Countries are looking to do the same in Europe, where more than 50 million known infections have been logged since the start of the pandemic, according to an AFP tally of official data Wednesday. The Netherlands on Wednesday ended a curfew and eased restrictions on outdoor bars and terraces. It followed similar moves in Italy, Portugal and Switzerland. France is hoping to join the trend and ease more restrictions this month. - 'Never imagined it would come to this' – Outside of the wealthier parts of the world, however, governments are scrambling to find any available vaccine stocks so they can accelerate their rollouts. In addition to the shots developed in the West, Chinese and Russian candidates have also been exported and helped many nations launch their vaccination programmes. But there was a setback for Russia's Sputnik V jab this week, when Brazil's drug regulator denied permission to import it to the hard-hit South American nation on the basis that the batches they tested carried a live version of a common cold-causing virus. Some scientists have backed that decision, saying it could be a safety issue for people with weak immune systems. The Gamaleya Institute, which developed the vaccine, has denied the reports. A deal has been signed to produce Sputnik V in Brazil's neighbour Argentina, where the pandemic restrictions and the resulting economic collapse continue to punish the poorest. Before the crisis, Daisy Garcia used to serve meals to around 80 people at a soup kitchen on the outskirts of the capital Buenos Aires. She now distributes meals for almost 1,000. ‘We never, never imagined it would come to this,’ said the 26-year-old.  

Indians struggled to register online for a mass vaccination drive set to begin at the weekend as the country’s toll from the coronavirus surged past 200,000 yesterday, worsened by shortages of hospital beds and medical oxygen. The second wave of infections has seen at least 300,000 people test positive each day for the past week, overwhelming health facilities and crematoriums and prompting an increasingly urgent response from allies overseas sending equipment. The last 24 hours brought 360,960 new cases for the world’s largest single-day total, taking India’s tally of infections to nearly 18mn. It was also the deadliest day so far, with 3,293 fatalities carrying the toll to 201,187. Experts believe the official tally vastly underestimates the actual toll in a nation of 1.35bn, however. “The situation is horrific, absolutely terrible... Everyone is afraid, every single person. People are afraid that if I am talking to a person, maybe I won’t get to talk to them tomorrow or in the near future,” New Delhi resident Manoj Garg said. Delhi state is reporting one death from Covid-19 every four minutes and ambulances have been taking the bodies of Covid victims to makeshift crematorium facilities in parks and parking lots, where bodies burned on rows and rows of funeral pyres. Mohamed Shameem, the head grave digger at Delhi’s biggest graveyard, said: “Earlier we had enough space here but now there is no space left. Whatever little gaps we have left, we are trying to fill them up now.” Genesis hospital in the Delhi suburb of Gurgaon told families to take patients away because its supplies of life-saving oxygen were depleting fast, one family said. “The hospital is trying to get fresh oxygen but we are told we have to make alternate arrangements,” said Anjali Cerejo, whose father had been admitted but now has to try to find another bed elsewhere. Outside hospitals, people lined up on trolleys, and in cars and cycle rickshaws, with loved ones holding oxygen cylinders for them as they waited for a bed inside. The World Health Organisation said in its weekly epidemiological update that India accounted for 38% of the 5.7mn cases reported worldwide to it last week. Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal said people were falling sick more severely and for longer periods in the second wave, stacking up the pressure on the health system. “The current wave is particularly dangerous,” he said. “It is supremely contagious and those who are contracting it are not able to recover as swiftly. In these conditions, intensive care wards are in great demand.” Experts said India’s best hope was to vaccinate its vast population and yesterday it opened registrations for everyone above the age of 18 to be given jabs from Saturday. But the country, which is one of the world’s biggest producers of vaccines, does not yet have the stocks for the estimated 600mn people becoming eligible, on top of the ongoing effort to inoculate the elderly and people with other medical conditions. People who tried to sign up said they failed, complaining on social media that they could not get a slot or they simply could not get online to register as the website repeatedly crashed. Pandemic accelerating: WHO Americas office The Covid-19 pandemic is accelerating, which is why equitable access to vaccines and effective preventive measures are crucial to helping turn the tide, the head of the Pan American Health Organisation (PAHO) said yesterday. “Our region is still under the grip of this pandemic... in several countries of South America the pandemic in the first four months of this year was worse than what we faced in 2020,” PAHO director Carissa Etienne said in a briefing. “This shows that we will only overcome this pandemic with a combination of rapid and equitable vaccine access and effective preventive measures. This pandemic is not only not over, it is accelerating,” she added. Over the past week more than 1.4mn people became infected with Covid-19 in the region and over 36,000 died from complications related to the disease.

India's giant IT firms in Bengaluru and other cities have set up Covid-19 "war-rooms" as they scramble to source oxygen, medicine and hospital beds for infected workers and maintain backroom operations for the world's biggest financial firms. Banks including Goldman Sachs and Standard Chartered , who run much of their global back office operations from large office parks in Bengaluru, Chennai or Hyderabad, have put in place the infrastructure to vaccinate thousands of employees and their families, when age restrictions are lifted on May 1. Workers at huge technology service providers Accenture and Wipro say teams are working 13-14 hours daily, under growing pressure and struggling to deliver on projects as staff call in sick and take time off to care for friends and relatives. They play down any threat of a collapse in operations - but at stake if the surge continues is the infrastructure put in place by the world's biggest financial companies in cost-cutting drives that have left them deeply-reliant on the big Indian offices. "Employees have contracted Covid-19 since the second wave began, causing severe pressure for projects that are nearing deadlines," said one employee at Accenture, asking not to be named because he was not authorised to speak to the media. Five other sources at Accenture confirmed the growing issues with pressure of work. Accenture said it was providing some medical care and covering the cost of vaccinations for its employees but did not comment on the impact on productivity. Wipro did not immediately respond to requests for comment. India's second wave of infections has seen at least 300,000 people test positive each day for the past week, overwhelming healthcare facilities and crematoriums and driving an increasingly urgent international response. Asia's IT capital Bengaluru, desperate to calm a daily infection rate five times higher than in last year's first wave, on Monday ordered a full lockdown that allows ordinary residents to leave their homes only briefly between 6 a.m. and 10 a.m. Local IT managers say they struggled to get global chiefs outside India to recognise the seriousness of the outbreak. India's gigantic IT and call centre service industry employs more than 4.5 million people directly and relies substantially on thousands of graduates under the age of 30. They are paid a fraction of western salaries and had largely ridden out the Covid-19 pandemic working from home until the relaxing of restrictions in recent months spurred companies to call more employees back to the office. Managers at Goldman Sachs' massive complex in Bengaluru, for example, told staff in early March to prepare to return to full-scale office working. Chief Executive Officer David Solomon said then that the bank owed it to its incoming class of analysts and interns to have them come to work in offices for at least part of the summer. The company quickly U-turned, sending all but essential employees home on March 27 as cases began to rise. New strains of the virus have since sent India's case numbers soaring to global records and brought more infections among younger Indians. But all 15 of the large companies Reuters spoke to this week said that they now had vaccination schemes in place and several outlined Covid-19 "war-rooms" they had launched to support staff and secure oxygen and other supplies. "The problem was that those outside India were anxious not to be seen to be jumping the queue," says a senior manager who runs a workforce of more than 600 staff at a global bank in Bengaluru, asking not to be named. "The India CEO and others here said: we don't care what it looks like, people are dying."

* India reports record single-day rise in infections, deaths * Overwhelmed crematoriums burn bodies in parks, parking lots * Biden pledges support as international aid ramps up India's toll from the coronavirus surged past 200,000 on Wednesday, the country's deadliest day yet, as shortages of oxygen, medical supplies and hospital staff compounded a record number of new infections. The second wave of infections has seen at least 300,000 people test positive each day for the past week, overwhelming healthcare facilities and crematoriums and driving an increasingly urgent international response. The last 24 hours brought 360,960 new cases for the world's largest single-day total, taking India's tally of infections to nearly 18 million. It was also the deadliest day so far, with 3,293 fatalities taking the toll to 201,187. Experts believe the official tally vastly underestimates the actual toll in a nation of 1.3 billion, however. In the capital, New Delhi, ambulances lined up for hours to take Covid-19 victims to makeshift crematorium facilities in parks and parking lots, where bodies burned on rows of funeral pyres. Coronavirus sufferers, many struggling for breath, flocked to a Sikh temple on the city's outskirts, hoping to secure some of its limited supplies of oxygen. Hospitals in and around the Indian capital said oxygen remains scarce, despite commitments to step up supplies. "We spend the day lowering oxygen levels on our ventilators and other devices as our tanks show alarmingly dipping levels," Dr Devlina Chakravarty, the managing director of the Artemis hospital in the suburb of Gurgaon, wrote in the Times of India newspaper. "We make hundreds of calls and send messages every day to get our daily quota of oxygen." Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejrilwal said people were falling sick more severely and for longer periods, stacking up the pressure. "The current wave is particularly dangerous," he said. "It is supremely contagious and those who are contracting it are not able to recover as swiftly. In these conditions, intensive care wards are in great demand." Police said a fire early on Wednesday at a hospital on the outskirts of the financial capital of Mumbai killed four people and injured several more. Accidents at hospitals have become a special concern as India runs short of beds and oxygen supplies. Last week a fire at a hospital treating Covid-19 patients and a leaking oxygen tank at another killed 22 people. Supplies arriving in New Delhi included ventilators and oxygen concentrators from Britain, with more sent from Australia, Germany and Ireland. "First shipment of oxygen generators from #Taiwan to #India is leaving this week," Kolas Yotaka, a spokeswoman for Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen, said on Twitter. "We are all in this together." Several countries have suspended flights from India, among measures to keep out more virulent variants of the virus. Credit rating agency S&P Global said India's second wave of infections could impede its economic recovery and expose other nations to further waves of outbreaks. The Asia-Pacific region, in particular, was susceptible to contagion from the highly infectious variants in India, given the region's low ratios of vaccination, it added. US President Joe Biden said he had spoken at length with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on issues such as when the United States would be able to ship vaccines to the South Asian nation, and added that it was his clear intention to do so. "I think we'll be in a position to be able to share, share vaccines, as well as know-how, with other countries who are in real need. That's the hope and expectation," he told reporters at the White House on Tuesday. The US State Department's coordinator for global Covid-19 response, Gayle Smith, warned that India's challenge called for a sustained effort: "We all need to understand that we are still at the front end of this. This hasn't peaked yet."

Senior US officials yesterday pledged sustained support for India in helping it deal with the world’s worst current surge of Covid-19 infections, warning the country is still at the “front end” of the crisis and overcoming it will take some time. The White House’s national security council co-ordinator for the Indo-Pacific, Kurt Campbell, told a virtual event on the US assistance that President Joe Biden had told Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on a phone call on Monday: “You let me know what you need and we will do it.” Campbell said at the event, organised by the US-India Business Council and US Chamber of Commerce Foundation, that Washington was committed to helping the world’s second most populous country get to grips with the crisis. “We all have to realise that this is not a challenge that is going to resolve (in) the next several days,” he said. Tackling the crisis, he said, was important not just for the people of India but for the US, given India’s essential role as global provider of vaccines. India is now the epicentre of the global coronavirus pandemic as a second wave of infections has driven the death toll up to almost 200,000. Yesterday, vital medical supplies began to reach the country of 1.35bn people but hospitals starved of life-saving oxygen and beds still were turning away coronavirus patients. The US and other countries pledged urgent medical aid to try to contain the emergency in India. The US state department’s co-ordinator for global Covid-19 response, Gayle Smith, added: “We all need to understand that we are still at the front end of this. This hasn’t peaked yet. “So this is going to require determination...We’re going to work really hard for some time, but we’re confident we can do it,” she said. “We anticipate that at the height of this kind of complex emergency, it’s going to be very fluid for a while as things fall into place. “We are collectively going to have to be very agile and very nimble.” Jeremy Konyndyk, global Covid-19 adviser for USAID, said the agency was concerned about the situation in countries in the same region as India and wanted to support both India’s capacity to get the situation under control and the wider region. He said the US was providing some badly needed raw materials to the Serum Institute of India to allow it to scale up the production of the AstraZeneca vaccine there. Aside from the US, countries including Britain and Germany have pledged support, while the World Health Organisation said it was working to deliver 4,000 oxygen concentrators, calling India’s plight “beyond heartbreaking”. Two Indian government sources earlier yesterday  said New Delhi expects to secure the biggest chunk of the 60mn AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccine doses the US will share globally. On Monday, senior US officials said an agreement between the US and three of its closest Indo-Pacific partners to produce up to a billion coronavirus vaccine doses in India by the end of 2022 to supply other Asian countries were “still on track,” despite the current crisis in the country.

* New daily cases fall to 323,144 from Monday's record of 352,991 * Fall due to drop in testing numbers, expert says * Army says to provide oxygen, retired medical staff to help * Australia is latest nation to suspend flights from India Vital medical supplies poured into India on Tuesday as hospitals starved of oxygen supplies and beds turned away coronavirus patients, while a surge in infections pushed the death toll towards 200,000. Supplies from Britain, including 100 ventilators and 95 oxygen concentrators, arrived in Delhi, said Reuters partner ANI, while France is sending oxygen generators able to provide 250 patients with a year's supply of the gas, its embassy said. Even China, locked in a year-long military standoff with India on their disputed Himalayan border, said it was trying to get medical supplies to its neighbour. "We will encourage and guide Chinese companies to actively cooperate with India...," embassy spokesman Wang Xiaojian said in a statement on its website. The first "Oxygen Express" train pulled into New Delhi, the capital, carrying about 70 tonnes of the life-saving gas from an eastern state, but the crisis has not abated in the city of 20 million at the epicentre of the latest wave of infections. The shortage of oxygen is the main concern, said Dr K. Preetham, an administrator at the Indian Spinal Injuries Centre. "For seven days, most of us haven't slept," he told Reuters. "Because of the scarcity, we are forced to put two patients on one cylinder." India's 323,144 new cases over the past 24 hours stood below a worldwide peak of 352,991 hit on Monday, while 2,771 deaths took the toll to 197,894. Fewer infections were largely due to a drop in testing, said health economist Rijo M John of the Indian Institute of Management in the southern state of Kerala. "This should not be taken as an indication of falling cases, rather a matter of missing out on too many positive cases," he said on Twitter. Delhi is in lockdown until May 3, a measure adopted by the southern state of Karnataka and the worst-hit state of Maharashtra, although some states had been set to lift curbs this week. The uneven curbs, complicated by local elections and mass gatherings such as the months-long Kumbh Mela, or pitcher festival, could drive breakouts elsewhere. About 20,000 devout Hindus gathered on the banks of the Ganges river in the northern city of Haridwar on the last auspicious day of the festival for a bath they believe will wash away their sins. "We believe Mother Ganga will protect us," said a woman on the riverbank, where Reuters images showed people bathing with few signs of distancing measures, despite calls to be careful. Tuesday's turnout was low, however, said Sanjay Gunjyal, a police official handling the arrangements, compared to the hundreds of thousands in previous weeks, as the crisis prompted many monk groups to limit participants to "symbolic" numbers. India has turned to its armed forces for help fighting the crisis as new infections have topped 300,000 since April 21. Prime Minister Narendra Modi has urged all citizens to get vaccinated amid the "storm" of infections. But in some of the worst-hit cities, bodies were being cremated in makeshift facilities in parks and parking lots while television channels showed images of bodies crammed into an ambulance in the western city of Beed as transport ran short. India has converted hotels and railway coaches into critical care facilities, but experts warn the next crisis will be a shortage of healthcare professionals. "Unfortunately beds do not treat patients - doctors, nurses and paramedics do," said Devi Shetty, a cardiac surgeon and chairman of the Narayana Health chain of hospitals. The Indian Medical Association said private hospitals would have to shut in Surat, a centre of the diamond trade in the western state of Gujarat, if they did not get oxygen supplies soon. "We fear a law-and-order situation might ensue," it added. Companies ranging from conglomerates such as Tata Group and Reliance Industries Ltd to Jindal Steel and Power have stepped forward to help supply medical oxygen. The US Chamber of Commerce has warned that the Indian economy, the world's sixth largest, could falter as a result of the spike in cases, creating a drag for the global economy. "We expect that this could get worse before it gets better," said its vice president, Myron Brilliant. Australia halted direct passenger flights from India until May 15, joining a growing list of nations adopting curbs to keep out more virulent variants. India, with a population of about 1.3 billion, has a tally of 17.64 million infections, but experts believe it runs much higher. Vaccine demand has outpaced supply, partly because of a shortage of raw materials and a fire at a facility making the AstraZeneca shot. Supply uncertainty could force the western state of Maharashtra to postpone the inoculation of those aged between 18 and 45, a government official said. India had planned to allow vaccination for all adults from May. India is negotiating with the United States, which has said it will share 60 million doses of AstraZeneca's Covid-19 vaccine with other countries. "Major lobbying is on...to secure as much as possible," a senior official participating in the talks told Reuters, adding that Modi had been assured of priority for India.