India's COVID-19 wave continues to swell

In the city of Delhi, ambulances line up outside overpacked graveyards to cremate the dead. Glowing funeral pyres blaze through the night as burial grounds run out of room. Outside hospitals, relatives plead for oxygen and weep for loved ones who died waiting for treatment. India set a new global record of daily coronavirus infections for the fifth straight day on Monday. The Health Ministry recorded 350,179 new infections and 2,812 deaths.

How have other countries responded? A White House statement on Sunday said the United States would deploy testing kits, ventilators, and oxygen supplies to India. The United Kingdom, Germany, and Pakistan have also pledge medical supplies. Several countries, including New Zealand, Indonesia, and neighboring Bangladesh, banned travel to India over a new COVID-19 variant contributing to the rising cases.

Dig deeper: Read Charles Horton’s WORLD Magazine report on some of the silver linings of the pandemic.