India's daily coronavirus cases rose by 329,942, while deaths from
the disease rose by 3,876, according to the health ministry. India's
total coronavirus infections are now at 22.99 million, while total
fatalities rose to 249,992.
India leads the world in the daily average number of new deaths
reported, accounting for one in every three deaths reported
worldwide each day, according to a Reuters tally.
The seven-day average of new cases is at a record high of 390,995.
The World Health Organization said the coronavirus variant first
identified in the country last year was being classified as a
variant of global concern, with some preliminary studies showing
that it spreads more easily.
![](http://archives.lincolndailynews.com/2021/May/11/images/ads/current/LPL_small%201.gif)
"We are classifying this as a variant of concern at a global level,"
Maria Van Kerkhove, WHO technical lead on COVID-19, told a briefing
in Geneva on Monday. "There is some available information to suggest
increased transmissibility."
Nations around the globe have sent oxygen cylinders and other
medical gear to support India's crisis, but many hospitals around
the nation are struggling with a shortage of the life-saving
equipment.
Eleven people died late on Monday in a government hospital in
Tirupati, a city in the southern state of Andhra Pradesh, due to a
delay in the arrival of a tanker carrying oxygen, a government
official said.
"There were issues with oxygen pressure due to low availability. It
all happened within a span of five minutes," said M Harinarayan, the
district's top bureaucrat said late on Monday, adding the SVR Ruia
hospital now had sufficient oxygen.
Sixteen faculty members and a number of retired teachers and
employees who had been living on the campus of Aligarh Muslim
University, one of India's most prestigious, had died of coronavirus,
the university said.
Adding to the strain on medical facilities, the Indian government
has told doctors to look out for signs of mucormycosis or "black
fungus" in COVID-19 patients as hospitals report a rise in cases of
the rare but potentially fatal infection.
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![](http://archives.lincolndailynews.com/2021/May/11/images/ads/current/debbiesfloral_lda_MOTHERSDAY_2021.png) The disease, which can lead to
blackening or discolouration over the nose,
blurred or double vision, chest pain, breathing
difficulties and coughing blood, is strongly
linked to diabetes. And diabetes can in turn be
exacerbated by steroids such as dexamethasone,
used to treat severe COVID-19.
Doctors in the country had to warn against the
practice of using cow dung in the belief it will
ward off COVID-19, saying there is no scientific
evidence for its effectiveness and that it risks
spreading other diseases.
In the state of Gujarat in western India, some
believers have been going to cow shelters once a
week to cover their bodies in cow dung and urine
in the hope it will boost their immunity
against, or help them recover from, the
coronavirus.
"There is no concrete scientific evidence that
cow dung or urine work to boost immunity against
COVID-19, it is based entirely on belief," said
Dr J.A. Jayalal, national president at the
Indian Medical Association.
India's second wave has increased calls for a
nationwide lockdown and prompted a growing
number of states to impose tougher restrictions,
impacting businesses and the wider economy.
Production of the Apple iPhone 12 at a Foxconn
factory in the southern state of Tamil Nadu has
slumped by more than 50% because workers
infected with COVID-19 have had to leave their
posts, two sources told Reuters.
![](http://archives.lincolndailynews.com/2021/May/11/images/ads/current/castlemanor_sda_FINANCIAL_2017.png) (Reporting by Nivedita Bhattacharjee, Anuron
Kumar Mitra, Kannaki Deka, Manas Mishra in
Bengaluru and Sudarshan Varadhan in Chennai;
Writing by Lincoln Feast; Editing by Raju
Gopalakrishnan)
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