Indian doctor on Covid frontline shares harrowing photo showing him drenched in sweat

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A mother suffering from coronavirus died in a hospital car park after desperately waiting for three hours for a bed amid India’s spiralling Covid crisis.

Jagriti Gupta laid helpless, gasping for breath, in a car outside the state-run GIMS hospital in Noida, as friends begged staff for treatment. 

But authorities were unable to attend to the 35-year-old engineer as the virus continues to rip through the country and decimate its resources, with India becoming the first in the world to record 400,000 daily cases overnight. 

One witness told NDTV: ‘I was standing right there as her (Jagriti Gupta’s) landlord ran around, asking for help. But no one listened to him. Around 3:30 pm, she collapsed. When the landlord ran to the reception to report that she is no longer breathing, the staff rushed outside and declared her dead.’ 

The country reported 3,500 deaths yesterday, bringing its total number of fatalities to almost 212,000 – only Mexico, Brazil and the United States have logged more.

It comes amid concerns from Delhi scientists that minor mutations in some Covid samples could ‘possibly evade immune response’ and require more study.

A forum of scientific advisers – known as the Indian SARS-CoV-2 Genetics Consortium, or INSACOG – set up by the Indian government has told authorities that while they were flagging the mutations, there was no reason currently to believe they were expanding or could be dangerous. 

It comes as:

• The country steps up its vaccination drive to include all adults – although there are warnings of jab shortages in many areas;
• More than 30 Australian cricket players, coaches and commentators have been left stranded in India after Sydney made it illegal for them to return with the threat of jail;
• At least 18 people, including two healthcare workers, were killed in a fire at a Covid-19 hospital in the western Indian state of Gujarat

INSACOG has found more mutations in coronavirus that it thinks need to be tracked closely.

‘We are seeing some mutation coming up in some samples that could possibly evade immune responses,’ said Shahid Jameel, chair of the scientific advisory group of INSACOG and a top Indian virologist. He did not say if the mutations have been seen in the Indian variant or any other strain.

‘Unless you culture those viruses and test them in the lab, you can’t say for sure. At this point, there is no reason to believe that they are expanding or if they can be dangerous, but we flagged it so that we keep our eye on the ball,’ he said. 

In another visual indictment of the frontline struggle, a doctor shared a harrowing photo on social media showing him drenched in sweat. 

Dr Sohil Makwana posted two images – one of him covered in wet PPE and another of him standing in a soaked salmon-coloured shirt – as a reminder of the intense strain health staff are under.

But the doctor insisted he was ‘proud to serve the nation’, as the country hit a grim milestone of cases in its desperate battle to keep the virus under control. 

In a follow-up tweet, he wrote: ‘Talking on the behalf of all doctors and health workers.. we are really working hard away from our family.. sometimes a foot away from positive patient, sometimes an inch away from critically ill oldies… I request please go for vaccination.. it’s only solution! Stay safe.’

The image clearly resonated with many, as it was retweeted nearly 17,000 times and received more than 132,000 likes on the social media site.

Across the country, vulnerable people are being supplied with oxygen tanks to help them breathe, with cleaners working round-the-clock to prepare hospital wards and families cremating the bodies of loved ones. 

In another visual indictment of the frontline struggle, a doctor shared a harrowing photo on social media showing him drenched in sweat.  

Dr Sohil Makwana posted two images – one of him covered in wet PPE and another of him standing in a soaked salmon-coloured shirt – as a reminder of the intense strain health staff are under.

But the doctor insisted he was ‘proud to serve the nation’, as the country hit a grim milestone of cases in its desperate battle to keep the virus under control. 

In a follow-up tweet, he wrote: ‘Talking on the behalf of all doctors and health workers.. we are really working hard away from our family.. sometimes a foot away from positive patient, sometimes an inch away from critically ill oldies… I request please go for vaccination.. it’s only solution! Stay safe.’

The image clearly resonated with many, as it was retweeted nearly 17,000 times and received more than 132,000 likes on the social media site.

Across the country, vulnerable people are being supplied with oxygen tanks to help them breathe, with cleaners working round-the-clock to prepare hospital wards and families cremating the bodies of loved ones.

India, the world’s biggest producer of jabs, had now stepped up its vaccination drive to include all adults, although several states have warned of acute shortages. 

The country has a limited number of shots available domestically, worsening a grim second wave of infections that has left hospitals and morgues overflowing while families scramble for increasingly scarce medicines and oxygen.

‘We hope that we will get vaccines tomorrow or the day after … I ask you to please not queue up at vaccination centres on Saturday,’ the Chief Minister of the hard-hit state of Delhi, said on Friday.

Hundreds of people were seen queuing across Ahmedabad, the main commercial city in Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s home state of Gujarat to get vaccinated.

Then last night, at least 18 people, including two healthcare workers, were killed in a fire at a COVID-19 hospital in the western Indian state of Gujarat.

The blaze started around midnight in the intensive care ward of the Patel Welfare Hospital, a designated COVID-19 facility, in Bharuch city, 115 miles (185 km) north of state’s main commercial city, Ahmedabad.

‘Sixteen patients and two staff members have died in the fire. Twelve of them died due to fire and smoke,’ said R.V. Chudasama, a superintendent of police in Bharuch. 

‘Preliminary investigation shows the fire was caused because of a short circuit,’ he said.

Local news channels showed footage of a hospital ward completely destroyed in the fire.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi said in a tweet he was ‘pained by the loss of lives due to a fire at a hospital in Bharuch.’

India’s healthcare system is struggling to cope with the coronavirus crisis, which has killed 211,853 people and infected more than 19 million, according to health ministry data on Saturday.

A dozen people were reported killed after a fire in a hospital treating COVID-19 patients in a suburb of Mumbai on April 23. 

Earlier 22 patients died at a public hospital in Maharashtra where Mumbai is located when oxygen supplies ran out due to a leaking tank. 

Meanwhile, actor Arjun Gowda, star of movies such as Yuvarathnaa and Odeya, has used a break in his filming schedule to volunteer as an ambulance driver to help those in need.

He set up Project Smile Trust, which aims to reach out to those left completely stranded by the pandemic.  

He told Times of India: ‘We want to ensure that we help out anyone in need irrespective of where they come from or what religion they practice. I’m also ready to travel across town for help.  

‘I ended up taking someone who lives in Kengeri all the way to Whitefield to get them admitted in the hospital. 

‘I plan on continuing with this help for the next couple of months as the current situation is quite back and I want to do my bit to people in whatever little way that I can.’ 

It comes after it emerged yesterday that an Indian woman died after police were accused of taking her oxygen cylinder away to give to a VIP amid acute shortages and a health system overwhelmed by the world’s fastest growing Covid outbreak.

Video circulated on social media shows a man crying and begging officers on his hands and knees outside a private hospital in the city of Agra in Uttar Pradesh.

‘My mother will die if you take away her oxygen cylinder,’ Anmol Goyal, 22, told the police as the cylinder was carried out of the hospital on Tuesday night.

He and his 17-year-old brother had sourced the oxygen themselves after the hospital ran out, bringing it to the Covid ward and placing it by their mother’s bed.

But the cylinder was confiscated by the police for someone deemed to be more important, according to The Times of India correspondent who shared the video on social media.

Two hours later the Goyals’ mother died. 

Agra Police have vehemently denied the claims, saying: ‘It was an empty cylinder being taken away from the hospital for refilling.’  

India is in the eye of the world’s Covid storm, with funeral pyres burning around the clock in Delhi and Mumbai and hospitals under armed guard to protect oxygen supplies. 

Despite emergency medical gear arriving from Britain and the United States, including a USAF cargo jet with 400 oxygen cylinders on Friday, there remains an acute shortage of oxygen, medicines and beds across India.

People are dying in the streets and on stretchers outside the overcrowded hospitals, while lucrative Indian Premier League cricket matches are played just a few hundred yards away.  

The league attracts many star players from Australia, whose officials have now put an unprecedented ban on citizens returning from India.  

Treasurer Josh Frydenberg has defended the policy today, despite the move being blasted as ‘horrifying’ and ‘outrageous’.

The federal government made made it illegal to fly home from India under threat of five years in jail and fines of $66,600.

Health Minister Greg Hunt announced the draconian restriction today, which will begin at 12.01am on Monday.

Mr Frydenberg stood by the the government’s decision, saying Prime Minister Scott Morrison acted on medical advice.

‘We have taken drastic action to keep Australians safe, and what we face in India is a very serious situation where the medical advice provided to the federal government has been to put in place these strict measures,’ he said on Sunday.

Asked if it was irresponsible then to leave Australians there and effectively lock them out of their own country, Mr Frydenberg said the measure was drastic but temporary.

‘The best thing we can do is get supplies into India, which is what we’re doing – ventilators, masks, other PPE equipment,’ he told reporters.

‘We’re doing everything we can to support India at this very difficult time (but) we’ve also got to protect Australians.’

Labor backed the flight ban as the ‘right call’ but suggested criminalising citizens for trying to return is another story.

Senior Labor MP Jason Clare told the ABC the flight ban was ‘the right call’ based on health advice, however criminalising citizens for trying to return was another story

‘It’d be a big call to make it a crime for Australians trying to get home … what we should be doing is trying to make it easier.’

‘We charted a flight to Wuhan (in China) to get Aussies out and took them to Christmas Island.’

‘Why aren’t we doing that now?’

Australia’s Covid exiles: THIRTY Australian cricket stars are stranded in India and face JAIL if they try to go home after Sydney made it ILLEGAL for them to go home

More than 30 Australian cricket players, coaches and commentators have been left stranded in India after Sydney made it illegal for them to return with the threat of jail.

It comes after stars Adam Zampa and Kane Richardson were able to arrive in Melbourne on Thursday on a commercial flight from Doha via a travel loophole.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison said that route, and others through Singapore and Kuala Lumpur, had now been closed to put a total ban on travel from India, which recorded 400,000 new cases of coronavirus on Saturday. 

The government yesterday went a step further as it unveiled an emergency bill that will see anyone arriving from India jailed for up to five years or fined up to £37,000.  

Thirty-four Australians remain in India – 12 players, 11 coaches, four commentators, two umpires and five support staff, as well as a commentator from New Zealand who lives in Australia.

Among the star players are Glenn Maxwell, Pat Cummins, Steve Smith and David Warner, while big names like Ricky Ponting, Simon Katich and David Hussey are coaching. 

Cummins’ contract is worth £1.8 million, while Warner is earning £1.3 million. 

In addition to the cricketers, more than 9,000 Australian citizens are believed to be in India. 

Mr Morrison promised that the sporting stars would not receive any preferential treatment under the new rules to protect Australia’s successful zero Covid strategy.

‘They have travelled there privately,’ the PM said on Tuesday. ‘This wasn’t part of an Australian tour. They’re under their own resources and they’ll be using those resources too, I’m sure, to see them return to Australia in accordance with their own arrangements.’  

The lucrative Twenty20 tournament is due to wrap up on May 30 and the players are housed in a ‘biosecure bubble,’ with no plans to cancel any fixtures.

Earlier this week, organisers came under renewed flak as a match between the Rajasthan Royals and the Mumbai Indians was played just a few hundred yards away from Delhi’s largest hospital where patients were dying for lack of oxygen.

England’s Jos Buttler played in the fixture along with Indian stars Rohit Sharma and Jasprit Bumrah.

Cricket Australia released their own statement earlier this week after Mr Morrison announced the new travel ban on India, saying it was in constant discussion with players and coaches in the country.

‘We will assist where possible,’ the statement read. ‘We will continue to liaise closely with the Australian government following today’s announcement that direct flights from India to Australia will be paused until 15 May, and monitor the situation between now and the tournament’s scheduled conclusion on 30 May.’ 

It comes as Western Australia’s premier, Mark McGowan, warned that quarantine facilities in the state had already been placed under huge strain by people arriving from India.

Mr McGowan said on Tuesday that there was ‘huge pressure now on all our quarantine facilities as a result of people coming from India.’ 

‘What makes it more galling is people have gone over there, over the course of the past few months,’ he added. 

One of the girlfriends of the cricket stars, Chris Lynn, who is earning $357,000 £200,000 playing for the Mumbai Indians, led calls this week for Cricket Australia to charter a plane to get the players out. 

Karlie Andrews told Daily Mail Australia she did not feel comfortable commenting on the current situation ‘as everything is still up in the air’ – but admitted fellow WAGs are keen to get their loved ones home to Australia as soon as possible. 

‘I know the IPL is doing everything they can to keep our players safe in their bubble,’ she said. 

‘And I know all partners would obviously love to have their significant other home safe and well ASAP when IPL is complete. 

‘Hopefully (Chris) is home at the end of May. It is not ideal and I miss him heaps but it won’t be forever and so just have to hang in there.’

Ms Andrews said she was hopeful Cricket Australia would charter a flight to pull the players out of India once the IPL finishes but noted she was ‘not sure’ that would be the case.    

India is in the eye of the world’s Covid storm, with funeral pyres burning around the clock in Delhi and Mumbai and hospitals under armed guard to protect oxygen supplies.

Despite emergency medical gear arriving from Britain and the United States, including a USAF cargo jet with 400 oxygen cylinders on Friday, there remains an acute shortage of oxygen, medicines and beds across India.

People are dying in the streets and on stretchers outside the overcrowded hospitals, while IPL matches are played just a few blocks away.

The tournament has continued, with players offering donations to help Covid victims and others making the case that it provides much needed relief for the fearful population.