Coronavirus | Surat turns Gujarat’s COVID-19 epicentre

Reports suggest the second wave is proving more lethal than the first

With the rise in the number of deaths daily due to COVID-19, Surat has become the coronavirus epicentre in Gujarat. On Tuesday, according to the State Health Department’s bulletin, 22 persons died of COVID-19 in Surat, but local officials and sources claimed the actual number was higher. “It’s mayhem here in the city. The city has never witnessed so many deaths in the last few decades. All crematoria run by the Municipal Corporation, and burial grounds, are working round the clock,” a senior newspaper editor from Surat told The Hindu. He added that the pandemic had become so widespread in the city that it was impossible to find a bed in any hospital, oxygen supply had almost depleted, and there were no ventilators or other necessary medicines like Remdesivir injections.