Mridula Narayan paints a vivid picture of the humanitarian crisis in India as the COVID-19 pandemic grows.
Video / AP / World Vision
The pictures tell one side of the world's struggle against Covid-19, with images of patients dying outside hospitals, and crematoriums and graveyards full, with no more room for the dead.
The statistics tell an equally sobering story, more than 16 months on from the first case of coronavirus.
According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), there were as many new infections of Covid-19 globally last week as there were during the entire first five months of the pandemic.
For nine weeks in a row, the number of cases worldwide has reached a new high and for six weeks running the number of deaths has eclipsed the week before.
Second, third and fourth waves of the virus in countries like India, Brazil and Iran are contributing heavily towards those grim figures. India in particular has seen its healthcare system collapse under the weight of infections as patients are turned away from hospitals because of oxygen shortages.
But as the world watches on and help flows to countries most in need, there are several new hotspots worth paying attention to including Canada, Sri Lanka and Turkey.
Health care staff provide lifesaving medical care to 60-year-old Covid-19 patient in the intensive care unit at the Humber River Hospital in Toronto, Canada. Photo / AP
Toronto hospital 'overwhelmed' by new infections
An intensive care nurse at a major hospital in Canada said she and her colleagues feel powerless against a tidal wave of new cases.
In Ontario – a province of 14 million people of which Toronto is the capital – more than 2200 patients needed to be hospitalised last week and almost 900 of those were listed as "critical".
The surge in cases has left ICU nurse Farial Faquiry struggling physically and finding it difficult to understand the Government's slow response.
"We're overwhelmed," she told AFP, admitting she was angry at times at the Ontarians who were not following public health orders to contain the virus.
"We're stretched thin. We're tired and exhausted. Just exhausted."
Ontario is now the epicentre of the outbreak in Canada, led by more virulent variants.
The latest surge in the number of cases was so big that authorities this week dispatched the military and the Red Cross to help care for critical patients.
"It's the worst wave I've ever seen," head nurse Kimisha Marshall said.
"We have younger patients coming in, sicker, and lots more patients coming in.
"We're short of nurses. We had some nurses that left, but also we have nurses that are getting sick, too," she said.
A Covid-19 patient receives oxygen inside a car provided by a Gurdwara, a Sikh house of worship, in New Delhi, India. Photo / AP
Alarm bells ringing in densely populated Sri Lanka
India is not the only South Asian nation where Covid-19 breakouts have caused panic and chaos.
In Sri Lanka, daily infections hit a record on Saturday, with authorities imposing further curbs on movement and activities in parts of the island nation.
The sharp rise in cases has prompted authorities to ban public gatherings and lock down several areas from Sunday.
The number of daily infections, which remained at a couple of hundred just before the traditional new year on April 14, has shot up to a record 1699 as of Saturday.
A worker carries wood on a hand cart as multiple funeral pyres of Covid-19 victims burn at a crematorium on the outskirts of New Delhi, India. Photo / AP
Since the Sinhala and Tamil New Year, Sri Lanka has reported 89 virus deaths, bringing the country's toll to 687.
"We could face an India-type crisis very soon unless we arrest the current trend of infections," said chief epidemiologist Sudath Samaraweera.
A man runs to escape heat emitting from the multiple funeral pyres of Covid-19 victims at a crematorium in the outskirts of New Delhi, India. Photo / AP
A charity cricket match in Sri Lanka aimed at raising money to help fight the coronavirus pandemic was cancelled on Sunday as a former test captain tested positive, the country's governing body for the sport said.
But Sri Lanka is going ahead with the two-match test series against Bangladesh without spectators.
The fallout from Covid-19 is also affecting other industries as Sri Lanka declared its biggest economic downturn in 73 years.
The deserted street leading to the iconic Galata Tower in Istanbul, after the start of the latest lockdown. Photo / AP
Turkey records fourth most infections globally last week
The normally bustling streets of Istanbul have been much quieter this week as Turkey entered its first full lockdown amid measures to prevent the virus from spreading.
According to Reuters, Turkey's 25,980 new cases and 340 new deaths in the past 24 hours contributed towards a global ranking that puts the country fourth based on seven-day averages.
People walk in a nearly deserted street in the city of Ankara, Turkey. Turkish security forces patrol main streets and set up checkpoints at entry and exits points. Photo / AP
Businesses have been closed and a curfew has been enforced amid the nationwide lockdown announced by President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
The BBC reports that Turkey did so well during its first wave that it was celebrated as a success story by WHO – only for the wheels to fall off when measures were eased in March.
It now has the highest infection rate in Europe.
Between January 2020 and April 2021, Turkey averaged more than 50,000 new infections per day. That figure puts it at the top for all of Europe, ahead of France with roughly 30,000 and Germany with 22,000.
Erdogan said Turkey needed to lock down until cases dropped to a more manageable rate.
"At a time when Europe is entering a phase of reopening, we need to rapidly cut our case numbers to below 5000 not to be left behind," he said.
"Otherwise we will inevitably face heavy costs in every area, from tourism to trade and education."
A family attend the burial service of a loved one, who died from complications related to Covid-19, at the Campo da Esperanca cemetery in Brasilia, Brazil. Photo / AP
'We are living through a nightmare'
As news.com.au reported last week, the situation in Brazil is so dire that graveyards have no room to bury the dead.
The country's death toll surpassed 400,000 on Thursday. It is just the second country to reach the grim milestone after the United States.
The country's Health Ministry reported 3001 Covid-19 deaths in the past 24 hours, bringing Brazil's overall toll to 401,186.
With a population of 212 million, the South American nation also has one of the highest mortality rates in the pandemic, at 189 deaths per 100,000 inhabitants – the worst in the Americas and one of the top 15 worldwide.
Brazil has been devastated by a surge in cases since the start of the year that pushed hospitals to the brink of collapse in many areas.
Although it appears to have passed the peak of the new wave, the number of daily deaths remains staggeringly high, at an average of 2526 a day over the past week, behind only India.
Worldwide, nearly 3.2 million people have died since the virus emerged.
The worst-affected country in terms of deaths is the United States with 576,722, followed by Brazil with 406,437, Mexico with 217,168, India with 215,542 and Britain with 127,524.
