India hospital fires kills 15 COVID-19 patients

After a devastating week, India has been struck by a third disaster, with a hospital fire claiming the lives of at least 15 COVID-19 patients.

A fire at the Welfare Hospital in Bharuch, in the nation’s west, has killed at least 15 COVID-19 patients, after flames broke out in the dedicated virus ward – only a week after 13 virus patients died when an intensive care unit outside of Mumbai caught fire. Picture: Twitter

After a devastating week of soaring coronavirus infections and deaths, and an earthquake causing “huge damage” to property and roads, India has been struck by another tragedy.

A fire at the Welfare Hospital in Bharuch, in the nation’s west, has killed at least 15 COVID-19 patients, after flames broke out in the dedicated virus ward – only a week after 13 virus patients died when an intensive care unit outside of Mumbai caught fire.

The cause of the blaze on Saturday is under investigation, according to officials, while dozens of people were rescued.

The nation’s hospitals and morgues have been overflowing, as the coronavirus death toll soared past 200,000 in recent days, and desperate families have been left to scour the capital for oxygen and medicine.

The vast South Asian nation of 1.3 billion is currently fighting a major surge of, on Friday, 385,000 new infections in 24 hours – the highest total anywhere in a single day that’s been recorded since the pandemic began.

Some experts have estimated the cases and deaths are likely between five and 10 times higher than what is being reported, while others believe it could be up to 30 times higher.

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Gujarat| Fire breaks out at a COVID-19 care centre in Bharuch. Affected patients are being shifted to nearby hospitals. Details awaited. pic.twitter.com/pq88J0eRXY

— ANI (@ANI) April 30, 2021

“It’s impossibly bad,” Dr Sumit Ray, the medical superintendent at Delhi’s Holy Family Hospital, told the ABC.

“It’s way beyond even what the media is able to capture. Not because they don’t want to. Even doctors don’t realise how bad it is.”

Speaking to the Financial Review, World Health Organisation (WHO) spokeswoman and expert in emergency risk communication, Margaret Harris, said that India has reminded the world of what it’s still up against in terms of COVID-19, even now that global vaccination efforts are underway.

“Nobody is safe until everybody is safe. This is a horrific demonstration of that,” she said.

“India has shown us that when this thing takes off, it really takes off.”

The nation’s second wave has largely been blamed on a new “double mutant” virus variant named B. 1.617.

The World Health Organisation recently listed B. 1.617 as a “variant of interest” but has stopped short of declaring it a “variant of concern”. That label would indicate that it is more dangerous than the original version of the virus by – for instance – being more transmissible, deadly or able to dodge vaccine protections.

Preliminary modelling indicates “that B. 1.617 has a higher growth rate than other circulating variants in India, suggesting potential increased transmissibility”.

The WHO also noted other more easily spread variants may be combining with B. 1.617 and “playing a role in the current resurgence in this country”.

RELATED: ‘Apocalyptic’: India’s COVID nightmare

Efforts to restrict the spread of the B. 1.617 variant haven’t been enough to prevent its detection in at least 10 other countries, including Britain and America.

Speaking to Business Insider, University of Michigan epidemiologist and biostatician, Professor Bhramer Mukherjee said that India’s “premature celebration of victory” should serve as a warning to other countries who are seeing case numbers decline.

“The double mutant is now in California, it is in the UK, and similar variants are going to circulate all over the world,” she said.

“It’s really a global problem.”