The number of COVID-19 cases in India began climbing dramatically last month, and daily infections now top 250,000, according to health-ministry data. Hospitals and crematoria are becoming overwhelmed, and vaccines, oxygen, and other medical supplies are becoming scarce. Larger cities have imposed new lockdowns, while at the same time, several large festivals have been allowed to take place elsewhere. India has now reported more than 15 million coronavirus infections since the beginning of the pandemic, and less than 10 percent of the population has received at least one vaccine dose. Gathered here are some images of the battle against COVID-19 in India over the past few weeks.
Photos: A Deadly Second Wave of COVID-19 in India
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![A man wearing protective equipment stands among burning pyres.]()
Read moreA man wearing protective equipment performs the last rites for his relative, who died from COVID-19, at a crematorium in New Delhi, India, on April 20, 2021. #
Anindito Mukherjee / Getty -
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![Several ambulances sit parked with patients inside.]()
Read morePatients with breathing problems wear oxygen masks as they wait inside ambulances that are queued up in front of a COVID-19 hospital in Ahmedabad, India, on April 14, 2021. #
Amit Dave / Reuters -
![Two patients lie on the same hospital bed, each with an oxygen mask.]()
Read morePatients suffering from COVID-19 get treatment at the casualty ward in Lok Nayak Jai Prakash Narayan Hospital in New Delhi on April 15, 2021. #
Danish Siddiqui / Reuters -
![A woman poses for the photographer, wearing a hair covering, and preparing to don a mask.]()
Read moreHealth worker Kavita Sherawat puts on a face mask as she prepares to take samples to test for COVID-19 in New Delhi on March 18, 2021. Despite dutifully wearing masks and always washing her hands, Sherawat got infected, as did her husband, parents, and in-laws. Although doctors and nurses were cheered as heroes during the lockdown, people avoided her, fearing infection. She tested thousands of sick and gasping people as they arrived at hospitals, not knowing whether the gear she wore was adequately protecting her. “That fear changes you as a person. You start valuing your life more,” she said. #
Manish Swarup / AP -
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![A view of an excavator and workers among several new graves in a cemetery.]()
Read moreIn this aerial picture taken on April 16, 2021, relatives and friends gather to bury the bodies of COVID-19 victims at a graveyard in New Delhi. #
Archana Thiyagarajan / AFP / Getty -
![About a dozen people stand side-by-side, wearing face masks, praying.]()
Read moreRelatives and friends offer prayers during the funeral of a COVID-19 victim at a graveyard in New Delhi on April 5, 2021. #
Sajjad Hussain / AFP / Getty -
![A policewoman rides a Segway in deserted area in Mumbai.]()
Read moreA police officer rides a Segway in a deserted area between the Gateway of India and Taj Mahal Hotel ahead of the scheduled weekend lockdown imposed by the state government amid rising COVID-19 cases in Mumbai on April 9, 2021. #
Punit Paranjpe / AFP / Getty -
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![Rows of beds stand empty, awaiting patients, in a stadium.]()
Read moreA worker arranges beds at a COVID-19 treatment facility newly set up at an indoor stadium in Guwahati, India, on April 19, 2021. #
Anupam Nath / AP -
![People work in a small factory on personal protective equipment.]()
Read moreLaborers work on personal-protective-equipment kits at a workshop in Ahmedabad on March 24, 2021. #
Sam Panthaky / AFP / Getty -
![A police officer gestures to a man in a street, who is being offered a mask.]()
Read moreA police officer urges a man to wear a face covering during an awareness campaign against the spread of COVID-19 at a traffic junction in Hyderabad on April 7, 2021. #
Noah Seelam / AFP / Getty -
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![Many people crowd together in lines, awaiting transportation.]()
Read morePeople wearing masks as a precaution against the coronavirus stand in queues to board trains at Lokmanya Tilak Terminus in Mumbai, India, on April 14, 2021. Migrant workers have swarmed rail stations in India's financial capital, Mumbai, to go to their home villages as virus-control measures have dried up available work in the hard-hit region. The government of Maharashtra state imposed lockdown-like curbs on Wednesday for 15 days to check the spread of the virus. It closed most industries, businesses, and public places and limited the movement of people, but it didn’t stop the bus, train, and air services. An exodus ensued, and panicked day laborers hauled backpacks onto overcrowded trains leaving Mumbai, travel that has raised fears of infection spreading in rural areas. #
Rafiq Maqbool / AP -
![A child runs past a wall mural depicting frontline COVID-19 workers wearing face masks.]()
Read moreA child runs past a wall mural depicting frontline workers wearing face masks along a road in New Delhi on March 21, 2021. #
Sajjad Hussain / AFP / Getty -
![A worker wearing protective gear stands near a single body, covered in a sheet, on a carrier, inside a crematorium.]()
Read moreThe body of a COVID-19 victim waits to be cremated in New Delhi on April 19, 2021. #
Manish Swarup / AP -
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![A person wearing protective gear stands near a newly-dug grave.]()
Read moreA COVID-19 victim's relative waits for their burial at a graveyard in New Delhi on April 16, 2021. #
Danish Siddiqui / Reuters -
![People line up, standing close together, waiting for a COVID-19 test.]()
Read morePeople wait in line to be tested for COVID-19 at a government hospital in Noida, a suburb of New Delhi, on April 15, 2021. #
Altaf Qadri / AP -
![People put up signs that read "Vaccine Out of Stock."]()
Read moreHealth workers attach a notice about a COVID-19 vaccine shortage at a vaccination center in Mumbai on April 8, 2021. #
Francis Mascarenhas / Reuters -
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![A patient is wheeled into a hospital.]()
Read moreA patient with breathing problems is wheeled into a COVID-19 hospital for treatment in Ahmedabad on April 14, 2021. #
Amit Dave / Reuters -
![A doctor in protective gear visits with a patient in a temporary clinic.]()
Read moreA doctor is seen talking with a COVID-19 patient who is in quarantine in a banquet hall that was converted into an isolation center to handle the rising cases of infection, on April 15, 2021, in New Delhi. #
Anindito Mukherjee / Getty -
![People console a crying woman.]()
Read moreA woman is consoled after her husband died from COVID-19, outside a hospital in Ahmedabad on April 15, 2021. #
Amit Dave / Reuters -
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![People gather to say last rites near the back door of an open ambulance.]()
Read moreA man reads a holy book before cremating his relative who died from COVID-19, in New Delhi, on April 19, 2021. #
Manish Swarup / AP -
![People gather and refill large tanks of oxygen near nozzles set up under a tarp.]()
Read morePeople refill medical oxygen cylinders for COVID-19 patients at an oxygen refill station in Allahabad on April 20, 2021, amid dwindling oxygen supplies in the country. #
Sanjay Kanojia / AFP / Getty -
![Dozens of people gather closely together around a large bonfire.]()
Read moreHindu devotees walk around a bonfire during a ritual known as "Holika Dahan," which is part of the Holi festival celebrations, amid the spread of COVID-19, in Ahmedabad, India, on March 28, 2021. #
Amit Dave / Reuters -
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![Health-care workers wait for people coming to an open-air testing station.]()
Read moreA health-care worker collects a swab sample from a man during a COVID-19 rapid-antigen-testing campaign, near the Gateway of India monument in Mumbai, on April 5, 2021. #
Niharika Kulkarni / Reuters -
![A health worker prepares a dose of coronavirus vaccine.]()
Read moreA health worker prepares a dose of the Covaxin coronavirus vaccine at a center in the old quarters of the city in Delhi, India, on April 15, 2021. #
Anindito Mukherjee / Getty -
![Health workers wearing protective gear stand inside a quarantine center.]()
Read moreMedical workers speak among themselves at a quarantine center in New Delhi on April 15, 2021. #
Anindito Mukherjee / Getty -
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![A person checks the interior of a newly-dug grave.]()
Read moreA relative checks the grave of a COVID-19 victim before their burial at a graveyard in New Delhi on April 3, 2021. #
Sajjad Hussain / AFP / Getty -
![A man is consoled by his relative as he sees the body of his father.]()
Read moreA man is consoled by his relative as he sees the body of his father, who died from COVID-19, before his burial at a graveyard in New Delhi, India, on April 16, 2021. #
Danish Siddiqui / Reuters -
![A man performs last rites amid multiple burning pyres in a crematorium.]()
Read moreA man performs the last rites for his relative, who died from COVID-19, amid multiple burning pyres of COVID-19 victims at a crematorium in New Delhi on April 17, 2021. #
Anindito Mukherjee / Getty -
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