• In the last 24 hours, an astounding 332,503 new coronavirus cases were reported in India, this is the highest-ever global one-day tally reported yet. What more worrisome is the fact that the country broke its own world record for most new cases in a day set only a day earlier.

India has been ravaged with COVID-19 for almost the past 15 months but the current situation of the country is more alarming than ever. As global cases exceed 145 million, no country is in more critical condition than India presently. The second wave of the deadly flu bug has been wreaking havoc on the country for the past several weeks making it a global epicenter of the viral infection. 

The death toll is also rising rapidly. In the last 24 hours only, at least 2,256 Indians succumbed to Covid-19 taking the total virus-related casualties past 186,000. There are over 2.4 million documented active coronavirus cases in India.

This record-breaking surge in India has brought down the health care system of the country to its knees. The situation is so bad that there is a severe shortage of oxygen cylinders in several states. This prompted several global Twitter trends like #IndiaNeedsOxygen today. Thousands of critical patients are forced to share oxygen beds as the hospitals are overcrowded. Several countries have banned flights to and from India. 

Though the federal and provincial authorities have implemented curfews in several cities in the past week, coronavirus is spreading like a wildfire. Modi-led federal government's performance has been atrocious regarding the containment of the virus. Even these days, rallies have been held by the political parties especially Modi's BJP for upcoming elections leaving the public at serious risk of contracting the virus.

According to the statistics provided by the website, 'Worldometers', the latest COVID-19 situation of India looks like this:

Total Cases: 16,257,309               
New Cases (Last 24 hours): +332,503                       

Total Deaths: 186,928             
New Deaths (Last 24 hours): +2,256    

Total Recovered: 13,641,606      

Active Cases: 2,428,775      

Weekly trends of the virus spread and its death toll show that India has seen a 62% weekly rise in new cases compared to an 11% global surge. Also, an 84% rise in weekly deaths is reported in India as compared to only a 6% global surge in casualties.

Indian authorities must address the COVID crisis on an emergency basis making it a national priority number one because health professionals and epidemiologists suspect that the situation will almost certainly get worse with time so it needs timely intervention to minimize the damage.