How is the Indian government addressing the crisis? When do we expect to see it coming under control?published at 14:19 British Summer Time 28 April 2021

14:19 BST 28 April 2021

Question from Sri in US

Yogita Limaye
BBC India correspondent

The prime minister said he held three meetings on Tuesday to discuss ways to scale up oxygen capacities and medical infrastructure. Trains and military aircraft are being pressed into action to speed up transport of oxygen supplies.

But on the ground, this is not reaching people in desperate need.

In Delhi, there are centralised helpline numbers which people have been asked to call if they need a hospital bed. But in reality, it is next to impossible to get a hospital bed in the city because facilities are so overrun.

People are angry. When we’ve met families of Covid patients, they’ve been asking, "Where is the government? What is it doing?"

Many are asking why the military and disaster response teams have not been pulled in to build field hospitals on a war footing.

There is a sense of abandonment in the country, of people being left to fend for themselves.

A complete curfew is to be imposed in 11 districts of Jammu and Kashmir from tomorrow at 19:00 until Monday 07:00 in a bid to contain the spread of Covid-19.

Full details of what's banned and permitted under the lockdown are expected to follow.

On Tuesday, 25 people died with coronavirus in the region, and more than 3,000 new infections were reported. Around 22,283 active positive cases have been reported.

The world's biggest vaccine maker, the Serum Institute of India, which produces the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine locally, will reduce the price of its vaccine doses for Indian states, its chief executive officer has said.

Adar Poonawalla tweeted that the price would be reduced from 400 rupees (£3.87) per dose to 300 rupees (£2.90) per dose.

Poonawalla said he hoped the reduction would "enable more vaccinations and save countless lives".

You can read more about India's bid to produce enough vaccine doses for its population here.

Image source, Arpita Chowdhury

Arpita Chowdhury, 20, and a group of students at her college in India's capital, Delhi, are running an online database of information about vital health supplies - which they gather and verify themselves.

With her colleagues, she calls contact numbers advertised on social media that offer oxygen, beds, plasma or medicine and publishes the verified information online. She then fields requests from relatives of Covid patients asking for help. Read more about it.

The past days have already seen shipments of medical aid and equipment from countries around the globe.

On Wednesday, New Zealand joined those ranks saying they'd give around NZ$1m ($720,500) to the Red Cross for its work in India.

Earlier, Singapore sent off two planeloads of oxygen cylinders to West Bengal, the state expected to see the worst rise in cases over the coming days.

England's Health Secretary Matt Hancock said "vital supplies" from the UK were also arriving. Medical kit including ventilators and oxygen equipment - landed in Delhi on Tuesday.

But the huge scale of the crisis means while this is a help, there remains a great need for even more assistance.

One health adviser called the aid for a nation of 1.3 billion "a drop in the ocean".

Zarir Udwadia, who works in Mumbai hospitals and counsels the government, told the BBC's Today programme the currently pledged supplies would have limited effects as he is seeing "ward after ward full of patients struggling to breathe on ventilators of different forms and shapes".

Read more on the aid being sent to India here.

The oxygen India’s hospitals are relying on is not the same as the air we breathe.

It is liquid, pale blue and kept at a temperature of around -183C.

Only around 500 factories in India actually have the ability to extract and purify oxygen from air, with special tankers sometimes queuing for hours in order to get their supply - and that’s before they make their very slow and careful journey across the country.

Find out more here.

Image source, Getty Images

Speaking in the UK Parliament, Labour's shadow foreign secretary Lisa Nandy says the peak of the crisis "may well be weeks away", adding that "the ties between our countries are woven into this nation".

She says many Britons of Indian origin will have gone to work in the NHS and social care while worrying about loved ones in India.

She says India is still "desperately short" of oxygen concentrators, ventilators and therapeutic drugs.

It would be helpful for India and also the whole world if UK scientists could help India track genomic mutations in its Covid-19 outbreak, she suggests.

Foreign Minister Nigel Adams says the UK was the first country to deliver support to the Indian people.

He says there is "more to come" on equipment and support for India, and the UK government will respond to what is needed by the Indian people as quickly as possible.

Rajini Vaidyanathan
BBC South Asia Correspondent

Image source, Reuters

It’s a horror story on repeat. Every day this week I've woken up to messages from friends and family in India, begging for help.

Social media posts document the desperation. And it’s not just in Delhi, it’s in every corner of the country.

“Can anyone find a bed in Jaipur for a friend’s father?”

“Who can help find some oxygen for a friend’s grandmother in Uttar Pradesh?”

“There are no beds in Pune, what should we do?”

And sometimes the messages are even bleaker. “My neighbour died yesterday,” a friend said yesterday. “We couldn’t get him a bed.”

Watching from afar, images of a broken India are hard to process.

Taxis have been turned into makeshift ambulances. Car parks have become crematoriums. Freedom has turned into fear.

“I worry I might get the virus while I walk my dog,” another friend tells me, as she struggles through Delhi’s ongoing lockdown.

Aid is starting to reach India from overseas. Even regional rivals Pakistan and China have put aside their differences to pledge help.

But nothing is enough, as cases continue to swamp India. As the world looks on at the endless images of burning pyres, there’s a tragic sense of inevitability.

Tomorrow, these scenes will be the same. No cry for help can save what India has already lost.

How can we help from the UK?published at 13:10 British Summer Time 28 April 2021

13:10 BST 28 April 2021

Question from Kate in UK

Sima Kotecha
Newsnight Correspondent, BBC News

The depth of feeling among people of South Asian heritage here in Britain is inescapable. Watching the constant stream of horrific pictures coming out of what some describe as their motherland has been heart-breaking and draining.

Many are desperate to help, so various UK charities have set up donation pages to raise money for oxygen concentrators as the country grapples with a severe shortage.

British Indian doctors tell us they’re providing advice and support to healthcare officials on the phone, with some arguing they’re more experienced in Covid after dealing with several surges of the virus over here.

Temples are also hosting special prayers for India to provide Hindu worshippers with a place to go and think about their loved ones. One Indian woman who has parents in Delhi told us: “I have little money so all I can do is pray.”

Why has the situation been allowed to escalate so much?published at 13:06 British Summer Time 28 April 2021

13:06 BST 28 April 2021

Question from Mrinal in India

Yogita Limaye
BBC India correspondent

Many hospitals struggled to cope during the first wave but it was far less severe than what we’re seeing now. And when it subsided, governments at both central and state levels dropped their guard.

Mass gatherings for religious festivals and election rallies were allowed. The national leadership almost declared victory over the pandemic.

In March, even as cases were rising sharply in some districts of the country, health minister Harsh Vardhan said the country was in the "endgame of the novel coronavirus pandemic".

This kind of messaging led to complacency among people, who stopped following covid protocols. Epidemiologists say there was insufficient genomic sequencing to determine which variants were behind the spike.

There was no effort to prepare medical facilities despite so many countries around the world facing a second, more deadly, wave of the virus.

In fact in some parts of the country field hospitals built during the first wave were dismantled. There was no stocking up on oxygen supplies or medicines.

Since the beginning of the pandemic, it’s been anticipated that India would be hit hard because of chronic under-investment in public healthcare - but if the country had prepared better for the inevitable, many lives could have been saved.

In the British Houses of Parliament, the opposition Labour party are asking an urgent question on the government's support for India.

Foreign Office Minister Nigel Adams says "the heartbreaking scenes in India in recent days have shocked us all".

He says the UK is standing "side by side with India". UK ministers and officials are in close contact to offer support and assistance.

The UK has sent ventilators and 95 oxygen concentrators, which arrived yesterday, 400 more will follow today and tomorrow, he says.

The United Kingdom "will save lives" he tells MPs, but he adds, "No-one is safe until everyone is safe."

Experts have warned in recent days that the amount of aid reaching India will have only a limited effect.

One health adviser called the aid pledged so far for a nation of 1.3bn "a drop in the ocean".

Is the current surge concentrated in any particular parts of India outside of Delhi?published at 12:52 British Summer Time 28 April 2021

12:52 BST 28 April 2021

Question from John in Taiwan

Yogita Limaye
BBC India correspondent

India is a very vast country. Even during the first wave, infections peaked in different parts of the country at different times.

This is also what we are seeing during the second wave. Two weeks ago, the situation was very grim in the western state of Maharashtra, of which Mumbai is the capital.

While hospitals are still struggling there, the number of daily new infections has been coming down.

Meanwhile numbers are surging in places like Delhi, Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal and many others.

As the virus grows, so does misinformation.

Social media giant Twitter is trying to counter this with a new "Covid:19: Know the Facts" page to make it easier to find information verified by official sources.

It's also launched a "Covid-19 SOS: Resources" page in India, where it says users can find details of how to access emergency help such as hospital beds, ventilators and potential blood donors.

Ashraf Padanna
BBC News, Trivandrum

The scramble for vaccination could also be helping the virus spread faster in Kerala, the Indian Medical Association fears.

“These mass vaccination centres could be transmission points for the virus as well,” Dr P Gopikumar, secretary of the IMA in Kerala, told the BBC.

“I have received a few such cases. Their number could go up given the mad rush for the jab as the new variants of the virus multiply very fast.”

On Monday, four elderly people collapsed as they waited in a long queue under the scorching sun at a vaccination centre in the state capital, Thiruvananthapuram.

Some 2,000 people had registered online and got a ticket for vaccination at an indoor stadium in the city.

Many came early in the morning but the vaccination started two hours behind schedule.

"This is as dangerous as weddings and funerals where the numbers of attendees are now limited to 50 and 20,” Dr Gopikumar, an ENT surgeon, said.

The IMA has now requested the state government shuts vaccination centres functioning at stadiums and community halls and distributes them through clinics instead.

Kerala is reporting the third-highest number of new cases in India after the large states of Maharashtra and Uttar Pradesh.

Soutik Biswas
India Correspondent

Image source, Getty Images

The US is lifting a ban on sending raw materials abroad, enabling India to make more of the AstraZeneca vaccine.

But what materials are needed?

Large vaccine makers typically use stainless steel reactors and fixed equipment - permanent machines that stay in place long-term - as opposed to single-use reactors, says Prashant Yadav, who studies health care supply chains at the Washington-based Centre for Global Development.

But India's Serum Institute is relying a lot on single-use bioreactors because they've had to expand production so quickly. In this case, the reactors use single-use filters or polymeric bags for growing adenoviruses.

Then there’s the “cell media”, the liquid in which the cells are grown.

All of this is mostly manufactured in the US and EU.

But the export ban was not the only issue - there is an overall shortage in the market for some of these items, so Indian vaccine makers may still struggle to increase their supply.

And changing the supplier may also require some regulatory approval, which can be time-consuming.

Send us your questions about the crisispublished at 12:28 British Summer Time 28 April 2021

12:28 BST 28 April 2021

The scale of India's Covid crisis is huge and it can be overwhelming to understand. Is there something about the story you want to know?

For the next hour our India correspondent Yogita Limaye will be answering questions sent by readers.

To ask one, click "Send in your questions" at the top of this page.

The first battle for many Indians is to get into a hospital. Many are filled to capacity and patients are being turned away.

But even once inside, getting treatment is a whole other story as lifesaving drugs are in short supply, as is oxygen.

Image source, Getty Images

The western state of Maharashtra - the home of financial capital Mumbai - will not proceed with a plan to open coronavirus vaccinations to adults over the age of 18 from 1 May, due to a shortage of doses, Reuters quotes the state's health minister as saying.

Rajesh Tope also told reporters the state might extend its lockdown measures for a further two weeks until mid-May.

Maharashtra has been the worst-hit state in the country and is among a number suffering critical shortages of oxygen needed to treat severely ill patients.

Image source, Getty Images

Welcome to all of you just joining us. As India battles a devastating Covid surge, we're running a special day of coverage across the BBC. Here's a round-up of the latest developments:

• India has now recorded more than 200,000 deaths - the fourth-highest death toll in the world behind the US, Brazil and Mexico - and also registered its highest single-day death toll
• However, there is mounting evidence that deaths are being markedly under-reported
• Hospitals across major cities are struggling, running out of available beds, and oxygen supplies are on the brink of running out
• Goa - a state famous for its beaches and parties - has become the latest state to announce a lockdown
• Pressure is growing on Prime Minister Narendra Modi, with critics accusing him of ignoring scientific warnings ahead of the latest devastating wave
• India will open up vaccine registrations for all adults over 18 today - though officials have warned of shortages and are not sure where the extra shots will come from
• An earthquake has hit the Indian state of Assam, damaging hospitals already struggling to deal with Covid patients

Actor Sonu Sood made a career playing Bollywood villains but he's now emerged as a real-life hero through the pandemic - working to arrange oxygen, drugs and hospital beds with his team receiving up to 25,000 requests a day.

When last year’s lockdown stranded millions of migrant workers, he distributed food and groceries and arranged thousands of buses to take them to their villages.

Sood recently contracted the virus himself but continued to field calls for help while in quarantine.

"I feel so sorry when I get desperate calls from teenagers saying their one parent is already dead and request me to help save the second one," the actor told the BBC's Geeta Pandey.

“The government failed us, they were not prepared."

Image source, Getty Images