As India continues to experience a horrifying spike in COVID-19 cases, trainee doctors and nurses, as well as retired medical practitioners are being roped in to join the fight against the pandemic.

According to ABC News, the government has postponed exams for trainee doctors and nurses to free them up for the uphill battle. At the same time, the military has called up 600 doctors who retired in the last few years, while the Navy has deployed 200 nursing assistants in civilian hospitals.

India's health system is crumbling under the weight of new coronavirus cases reported on a daily basis. To date, India has a total of more than 20.2 million reported coronavirus cases and over 222,000 deaths from the disease - placing it as the second worst-hit country in the world, after the United States.

More than 3.4 million people are being treated for the disease.

Medical experts say that the actual numbers in the India could be five to 10 times higher than those reported. Hospitals have run out of beds, oxygen is short on supply, and morgues and crematoriums have filled to the brim, forcing parking lots and parks to be turned into makeshift burial grounds and crematoriums.

Despite expert opnions that a nationwide medical emergency and lockdown is needed to curb the rapid spread of the virus, the federal government led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi is reluctant to impose a nationwide lockdown, out of concern for the economic impact.

The international community has offered to lend India a helping hand, sending in much-needed ventilators, oxygen supply and other essentials.

Despite India being the world's biggest vaccine producer, just about nine percent of its 1.35 billion population has received a dose of the vaccine.

Various countries around the world, including Britain, Iran, and Switzerland have closed their borders for travellers from India.

Source: ABC News
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