The world’s fastest pace of spreading infections and the highest daily increase in coronavirus cases are pushing India further into a deepening and deadly health care crisis.

India is massive — it’s the world’s second-most populous country with nearly 1.4 billion people — and its size presents extraordinary challenges to fighting Covid-19.

Some 2.7 million vaccine doses are given daily, but that’s still less than 10 per cent of its people who have gotten their first shot. Overall, India has confirmed 15.9m cases of infection, the second-highest after the United States, and 184,657 deaths.

The latest surge has driven India’s fragile health systems to the breaking point: understaffed hospitals are overflowing with patients. Medical oxygen is in short supply. Intensive care units are full. Nearly all ventilators are in use, and the dead are piling up at crematoriums and graveyards.

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