India sets a 5th straight COVID-19 infection record, as U.S. and other countries pledge help


India on Monday reported 352,991 new COVID-19 infections, its fifth consecutive day of setting a new global record for infections over a 24-hour period. India has now recorded more than 17 million cases and, with Sunday's 2,812 new COVID-19 deaths, 195,123 official fatalities from the pandemic. Based partly on the nonstop fires at overwhelmed crematoriums, India's actual death toll is believed to be several times higher than the official count. Hospitals are full and supplies, notably oxygen, are dangerously low.
On Sunday, the U.S. became the latest country to offer help to India as it struggles to tame its devastating second wave of infections. The National Security Council said the U.S. will provide key materials for India to produce vaccines, plus drugs, test kits, ventilators, and personal protective equipment; Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said the Pentagon will help deliver supplies, including "oxygen-related equipment," to India in coming days. "Just as India sent assistance to the United States as our hospitals were strained early in the pandemic, the United States is determined to help India in its time of need," President Biden tweeted Sunday.
Britain, the European Union, China, Russia, and Pakistan were among the other countries that offered oxygen, medicine, and other supplies to India, and Singapore and Germany have already sent oxygen and mobile oxygen generation plants. In his monthly radio address Sunday, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi urged Indians to get vaccinated and said everyone 18 and older will be eligible starting May 1. In Delhi, the capital, 1 in 3 people tested for COVID-19 is positive, and that rate rises to 1 in 2 in Kolkata. Every death is a blow to India's self-assurance, BBC News reports.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Meanwhile, Modi's government "has moved to silence critics on social media, according to documents published by the Lumen Database, a transparency initiative run by Harvard University," The Washington Post reports. Among the tweets no longer visible in India, after officials filed complaints with Twitter, is one from West Bengal State Minister Moloy Ghatak. "When death bodies were burning, Nero was busy doing election rallies," he tweeted over twin images of a mass cremation and a Modi rally. This tweet, however, is still live. Peter Weber
Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Peter has worked as a news and culture writer and editor at The Week since the site's launch in 2008. He covers politics, world affairs, religion and cultural currents. His journalism career began as a copy editor at a financial newswire and has included editorial positions at The New York Times Magazine, Facts on File, and Oregon State University.
-
Today's political cartoons - March 29, 2025
Cartoons Saturday's cartoons - my way or Norway, running orders, and more
By The Week US Published
-
5 tactically sound cartoons about the leaked Signal chat
Cartoons Artists take on the clown signal, baby steps, and more
By The Week US Published
-
Roast lamb shoulder with ginger and fresh turmeric recipe
The Week Recommends Succulent and tender and falls off the bone with ease
By The Week UK Published
-
Measles outbreak spreads, as does RFK Jr.'s influence
Speed Read The outbreak centered in Texas has grown to at least three states and Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is promoting unproven treatments
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
RFK Jr. offers alternative remedies as measles spreads
Speed Read Health secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. makes unsupported claims about containing the spread as vaccine skepticism grows
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
Texas outbreak brings 1st US measles death since 2015
Speed read The outbreak is concentrated in a 'close-knit, undervaccinated' Mennonite community in rural Gaines County
By Rafi Schwartz, The Week US Published
-
Mystery illness spreading in Congo rapidly kills dozens
Speed Read The World Health Organization said 53 people have died in an outbreak that originated in a village where three children ate a bat carcass
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
Ozempic can curb alcohol cravings, study finds
Speed read Weight loss drugs like Ozempic and Wegovy may also be helpful in limiting alcohol consumption
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
New form of H5N1 bird flu found in US dairy cows
Speed Read This new form of bird flu is different from the version that spread through herds in the last year
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
Microplastics accumulating in human brains, study finds
Speed Read The amount of tiny plastic particles found in human brains increased dramatically from 2016 to 2024
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
FDA approves painkiller said to thwart addiction
Speed Read Suzetrigine, being sold as Journavx, is the first new pharmaceutical pain treatment approved by the FDA in 20 years
By Rafi Schwartz, The Week US Published