Harrowing footage shows dozens of Covid corpses lined up for cremation as India faces ‘two weeks of hell’
HARROWING footage shows dozens of Covid victims lined up for cremation as doctors warned India faces another "two weeks of hell".
Crematoriums are operating round the clock to cope with thousands of daily deaths - and experts say worse is to come before the peak of the world's worst outbreak.
Oxygen supplies and beds have run out at many hospitals, leaving gasping patients dying at home or on the streets.
The capital, Delhi — where the night sky glows orange with funeral pyres — is the worst-hit city. It has reported 1,777 deaths in five days.
Our video shows the brutal reality of the virus as the country's official death toll neared 200,000.
Dozens of bodies are seen lined up on the ground in 40C heat at Delhi's Shubash Nagar Crematorium.
Relatives can be seen carefully placing a Covid victim at the end of a snaking queue of other corpses.
They are all wrapped in shrouds ready for cremation, some with flowers draped on top.
Further back, more families carrying loved-ones are seen waiting to join the line.
Nearby dozens of lit and smouldering pyres are placed just feet apart from each other in the cremation areas.
Volunteers there have been working 24 hours a day in distressing scenes compared to a "conveyor belt of death".
It is the same in cities across India as it faces a devastating second wave "tsunami" of infections.
Delhi emergency medic Dr Shaarang Sachdev told Sky News: "This pandemic is the worst we have ever seen until now.
"The next two weeks are going to be hell for us."
It comes as:
- UK sends ventilators to India to help overwhelmed hospitals
- IPL chiefs vow tournament will go ahead despite the crisis
- India threatens to 'hang' officials delaying oxygen supplies
- Cases could hit 500,000 a day as death toll mounts
Hundreds of patients have reportedly died in recent days because hospitals ran short of life-saving oxygen.
Others died on hospital doorsteps begging for air because there were no beds.
The shortage has sparked a 1,500 per cent hike in the price of black market oxygen, with some families paying £900 for £60 cylinders.
Antiviral drug remdesivir has also rocketed in price 20-fold.
Last night it was reported some desperate virus victims were hurling themselves off buildings.
A West Bengal man was reported to have leapt to his death from a hospital roof after testing positive.
In Patna in the north east, a railway worker beheaded his wife when she caught the virus then leapt to his death from their apartment.
Film also emerged showing a victim’s body falling from an overloaded ambulance en route to a crematorium.
Yesterday India set another grim milestone for the highest number of infections — for the fifth straight day.
It registered 2,812 deaths and a global high of 352,991 new cases.
Experts fear the true death toll could be five times the official tally of 197,894.
The virus has already engulfed Delhi and Mumbai and is now ravaging giant port city Kolkata, home to 15million.
Around half of Covid tests there are coming back positive, compared with one in 20 at the start of April.
The surge has been blamed partly on forthcoming elections in the surrounding state of West Bengal.
PM Narendra Modi has come under fire for staging a "super spreader" election rally attended by thousands of supporters of his BJP party.
Meanwhile, judges at the Madras High Court said "irresponsible" Election Commission officials should face possible murder charges for allowing rallies to go ahead.
India was once seen as a success story in beating the pandemic but Mr Modi now stands accused of cover-ups and dismal failure.
His government has mobilised army medics to help support overwhelmed hospitals.
But he was slammed for ordering Twitter to censor criticism of his handling of the crisis.
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