Serbian ambassador on Covid chaos in India: "This is unprecedented, we're in touch with our people"

India is reporting a global record in the daily number of new coronavirus cases, and in the last seven days of the "Covid storm" that number amounted to more than two million, says Serbian Ambassador to New Delhi Sinisa Pavic, who added that the situation in the second week of May could be even worse.

"Some estimates say that in the second week of May, these numbers of more than 300,000 new cases per day can be exceeded and can reach half a million," the Serbian ambassador to India, the home to 18% of the world's population, told Tanjug.

Pavic says that the fact that 145 million people have been vaccinated in India also speaks about the severity of the problem, but that the vaccination figure is still below 10% of the total population.

India has become the scene of a Covid storm, which "broke down" the healthcare system, the ambassador said, and recalled that because of such a large number of infected people, the prime minister of India referred to the situation as a storm or a tsunami.

"In recent days, something unprecedented has been happening in India, the right word for it is still being sought," said Pavic and added that 360,000 new daily cases were reported yesterday.

Pavic recalled that in February, this number was around 11,000 per day, and that as a producer of vaccines, India was able to help others and sent 80 million vaccines to other countries, but that the situation changed drastically in April.

According to him, the number of new cases first exceeded 150,000, and soon 300,000, which is Indian and global record, including 3,200 deaths a day.

The Indian authorities are fighting the battle against coronavirus by mobilizing all resources outside the healthcare system, and they have also turned to the international community for help.

As Pavic says, all that was necessary, bearing in mind the appearance of a new, Indian strain, which contributed to the increase in the number of patients with more serious symptoms.

Healthcare institutions were left without oxygen for two or three days, which paralyzed the health system, the ambassador said.

India expects help from the United States - both vaccines and components to increase their production, Pavic said, adding that great importance is attached to Russia's Sputnik V, which will start to be administered in India on May 1.

Pavic says that the Serbian embassy is in contact with our citizens in India, of whom there are dozens, and that there is no information that the health of any of them is jeopardized.

(Telegraf.rs/Tanjug)