Covid-19 Wrap-up: Daily deaths and new infections hit record highs again

India's Covid-19 cases hit another record high with over 4.1 lakh new infections as of this morning. The number of deaths was another grim record with 3,980 reported. The overall death toll crossed 2.3 lakh, according to Union Health Ministry data.

As the demand for medical oxygen continues to grow, three Indian warships left the Persian Gulf with oxygen supplies and are headed for Mumbai.

The government has eased the process of registration and approval for importing oxygen cylinders and cryogenic tankers. The Union Government is also pushing back against some O2 demands. The government approached the Supreme Court against the Karnataka High Court order to enhance the daily liquid medical oxygen allocation for the state from the present 965 MT to 1200 MT to treat Covid-19 patients.

Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal thanked the Centre for supplying Delhi with 730 metric tonnes of oxygen and requested hospitals to increase the Covid-19 beds that they had to cut down due to a shortage of the gas in the past few days. If 700 MT of daily oxygen supply is ensured by the Centre, he said the Delhi Government could set up around 9,000-9,500 more oxygen beds.

As India prepares to combat the third wave of the pandemic, the Maharashtra Government launched 'Mission Oxygen' to scale up the medical oxygen production from 1,200 MT to 3,000 MT over the next few weeks. Over 80,000 of the total 6.5-lakh-odd active Covid-19 patients in Maharashtra are serious, according to a report prepared by the Public Health Department.

In Karnataka, the Bagalkot district health officer pleaded with the district in-charge minister to supply oxygen "before the situation goes out of control".

BJP’s Bangalore South MP Tejasvi Surya rejected allegations that he had 'communalised' the issue of irregularities in Covid-19 bed-blocking in the city.

A political row broke out over aid rushed to India by countries across the world to help deal with the ferocious second wave of Covid-19 with the Opposition accusing the Modi government of letting the life-saving equipment gather dust at airport terminals.

The Kerala government announced a lockdown from May 8 to 16 given the continued surge in Covid-19 cases. A partial lockdown was already in place in the state.

The Andhra Pradesh Health Department said that B.1.617 (known as the Indian double variant) and B.1 were the major Covid-19 strains identified in positive samples from Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Telangana in April this year.

France joined the United States in supporting an easing of patent and other protections on Covid-19 vaccines that could help poorer countries get more doses and speed the end of the pandemic. While the backing from two countries with major drugmakers is important, many obstacles remain.

There was undeniable fear once Covid-19 found its way into IPL's bio-bubble, some Indian players who participated in the recently-suspended T20 league revealed with a couple of them also asserting that it wasn't as "tight" as it was last year.