Photos: Mass funeral pyres reflect COVID-19 crisis in India

Delhi has been cremating so many bodies of COVID-19 victims that authorities are getting requests to start cutting down trees in city parks for kindling, as a record surge of illness is collapsing India’s tattered health care system. Above, Relatives react after the death of family member due to COVID-19, as coronavirus cases surge in the national capital, in New Delhi.

Outside graveyards in cities like Delhi, which currently has the highest daily cases, ambulance after ambulance waits in line to cremate the dead. Burial grounds are running out of space in many cities as glowing funeral pyres blaze through the night. Above, a man runs past the burning funeral pyres of those who died from the coronavirus disease during a mass cremation, at a crematorium in New Delhi.

India’s surge in coronavirus infections, growing at the fastest pace in the world, has left families and patients pleading for oxygen outside hospitals, the relatives weeping in the street as their loved ones die while waiting for treatment. Above, patients get free oxygen, provided by a private organization in Ghaziabad.

Family members mourn the death of a COVID-19 victim, at Cremation Ground in Jammu. The nation of nearly 1.4 billion people set a global record of new daily infections for a fifth straight day Monday. The 350,179 new cases pushed India’s total past 17 million, behind only the United States. Deaths rose by 2,812 in the past 24 hours, bringing total fatalities to 195,123, the Health Ministry said, though the number is believed to be a vast undercount.

A man wearing personal protective equipment (PPE) carries wood to prepare funeral pyres of those who died from the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), during a mass cremation, at a crematorium in New Delhi.

A woman is consoled by her relative after her husband died from the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outside a COVID-19 hospital in Ahmedabad.

People carry the oxygen cylinder for COVID-19 patients from an oxygen refilling station amid the rise in Coronavirus cases, in New Delhi.

Healthcare workers help a COVID-19 patient breathe through an oxygen cylinder at CWG COVID Care center amid the surge in Coronavirus cases, in New Delhi.

Family members of a COVID-19 victim react oustide a hospital as coronavirus cases surge in Kanpur.

Municipal workers prepare to bury the body of a person who died of COVID-19 in Gauhati.

Relatives react after the death of family member due to COVID-19 , as coronavirus cases surge in the national capital, in New Delhi.

A relative of a person who died of COVID-19 is consoled by another during cremation in Jammu.

A relative holds a bottle of medicine administered to a patient sitting inside a car waiting to enter a COVID-19 hospital for treatment, amidst the spread of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in Ahmedabad.

People stand in queue to get the COVID-19 vaccines at Jimmy George Stadium, in Thiruvananthapuram on Monday.

A health worker collects samples for COVID-19 tests in Kullu.

A relative of a person who died of COVID-19 reacts at a crematorium in Jammu.

Relatives react as a healthcare worker pulls a stretcher carrying the body of a person, who died from the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), at a mortuary, amidst the spread of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in Ahmedabad.

A health worker carries food for COVID-19 patients at Calcutta Medical College and Hospital, in Kolkata.

People gather in large numbers to receive Vaccination outside a government hospital in Nadia, West BengaL

A healthcare worker takes a nasal sample of a passenger for the COVID-19 testing amid the rise in cases,at Anand Vihar Bus Terminal in New Delhi.