Australia is considering providing further humanitarian assistance to India as the country grapples with a devastating surge in COVID-19 cases.
Health Minister Greg Hunt has confirmed the federal government's National Security Committee will meet on Tuesday to review measures to support India's health system as it buckles under the mass outbreak.
The country is suffering critical oxygen shortages, with hospitals forced to turn away patients as the country is ravaged by the virus.
India on Monday once again set a global record for its rise in daily coronavirus cases - recording 352,991 new cases.
Mr Hunt said further support measures to assist India would be considered, describing the situation as a "health crisis on an unimaginable scale."
"India is literally gasping for oxygen," he told reporters.
"Their particular request is for assistance with regards to the physical supply of oxygen and that will be one of the things we are looking at."
Mr Hunt said Australia would review sending ventilators and oxygen supplies to support India's fight against the virus - indicating states had been contacted to determine spare capacity.
Multiple funeral pyres of those who died of COVID-19 burn at a ground that has been converted into a crematorium. Source: AP
"We are in a position to be able to supply non-invasive ventilators. We are in a strong position on that front because we don't need them at this point in time," he said.
"Equally we have reached out to the states who actually carry the suppliers of oxygen, to see whether there is any spare capacity that might be provided."
India ordered its armed forces on Monday to help tackle surging new coronavirus infections, as nations including Britain, Germany and the United States pledged urgent medical aid to try to contain an emergency overwhelming the country's hospitals.
The situation in the world's second-most populous country is "beyond heartbreaking", World Health Organization chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said, adding that WHO is sending extra staff and supplies including oxygen concentrator devices.
In a meeting with India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the Chief of Defence Staff General Bipin Rawat said oxygen would be sent to hospitals from armed forces reserves and retired medical military personnel would join COVID-19 health facilities.
A relative of a person who died of COVID-19 reacts at a crematorium in Jammu, India, Sunday, 25 April, 2021. Source: AAP
Where possible, military medical infrastructure will be made available to civilians, a government statement said, as new coronavirus infections hit a record peak for a fifth day.
"Air, Rail, Road & Sea; Heaven & earth are being moved to overcome challenges thrown up by this wave of COVID19," Health Minister Harsh Vardhan said on Twitter.
India's total case load has reached approximately 17 million cases - with 195,123 deaths recorded in total.
Relatives mourning next to pyres of Covid-19 deceased people at a crematorium in New Delhi. Source: LightRocket
The number of recorded deaths rose by 2,812 over 24 hours, according to figures released on Monday.
In response to the deteriorating health situation, Australia's national cabinet last week agreed to reduce the number of flights coming from India by 30 per cent.
Mr Hunt said the National Security Committee would consider whether additional measures were required to further restrict travel to and from India.
"We will take them with the heaviest of hearts but without any hesitation," he said.
Mr Hunt also recognised the impact the outbreak is having on the Indian community in Australia.
"We recognise that for the Indian community, they are suffering abroad," he said.
"But our Indian Australian community has also suffered. Their friends and families and loved ones are in extremis, many are contracting the disease and sadly dying every day. Literally, they are dying and unable to breathe."
'Extreme crisis situation'
The southern state of Karnataka, home to the tech city of Bengaluru, ordered a 14-day lockdown from Tuesday, joining the western industrial state of Maharashtra, where lockdowns run until May 1, although some states were also set to lift lockdown measures this week.
The patchy curbs, complicated by local elections and mass festival gatherings, could prompt breakouts elsewhere, as infections rose by 352,991 in the last 24 hours, with crowded hospitals running out of oxygen supplies and beds.
"Currently the hospital is in beg-and-borrow mode and it is an extreme crisis situation," said a spokesman for the Sir Ganga Ram Hospital in the capital, New Delhi.
A body of a Covid-19 victim is carried for cremation, at Seema Puri crematorium, New Delhi. Source: AAP
Vaccine demand outpaces supply
Virologists said more infectious variants of the virus, including an Indian one, have fuelled the resurgence.
The government told people to stay indoors and follow hygiene protocols.
Vaccine demand has outpaced supply as the inoculation campaign widened this month, while companies struggle to boost output, partly because of a shortage of raw materials and a fire at a facility making the AstraZeneca dose.
However, India's government will not import vaccines itself but expects states and companies to do so instead, in a step aimed at backing domestic manufacturers, two government officials told Reuters.
With Reuters.
