Photos: Relentless wave pushes death toll in India past 200,000

A COVID-19 patient in a vehicle receives oxygen at a Sikh gurdwara in Delhi. India’s coronavirus death toll passed 200,000 on Wednesday with more than 3,000 fatalities reported in 24 hours for the first time, official data showed.

Family members mourn for the victims who died due to COVID-19 disease, at Ghazipur crematorium in New Delhi. A total of 201,187 people have now died, 3,293 of them in the past day, according to health ministry data, although many experts suspect that the true toll is higher.

Family members carry a COVID-19 victim on a car due to shortage of ambulances, during the second wave of coronavirus pandemic, near Ghazipur in New Delhi.

A woman and her son carry an oxygen cylinder outside a factory to get it refilled in New Delhi. India has now reported 18 million infections, an increase of 360,960 in 24 hours, which is a new world record. This month alone the country has added almost six million new cases.

A man is consoled by his brother after their father died due to the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), at a crematorium ground in New Delhi.

The explosion in cases, blamed in part on a new virus variant as well as mass political and religious events, has overwhelmed hospitals with dire shortages of beds, drugs and oxygen.

The crisis is particularly severe in New Delhi, with people dying outside packed hospitals where three people are often forced to share beds. Clinics have been running out of oxygen.

Shruti Saha, who had been waiting since Tuesday night for her turn to get an oxygen cylinder refilled for her mother, reacts after she was informed about her mother's death, outside a refilling workshop, in New Delhi.

Madhuriben S Parmar reacts with an oxygen mask on as she speaks to her family on a video call while lying in an ambulance waiting to enter a COVID-19 hospital for treatment in Ahmedabad.

A young boy reacts as he speaks on the phone after his father died due to COVID-19, in New Delhi.

India has so far administered 150 million vaccine shots and from Saturday the programme will be expanded to include all adults, meaning 600 million more people will be eligible. Above, people wearing protective face masks wait to receive a vaccine against the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) at a vaccination centre in Mumbai.

A COVID-19 patient waits to be admitted to Jawaharlal Nehru Hospital, in Ajmer.

Kashmiri women receive COVISHIELD vaccine for COVID-19 at a primary health center in Srinagar.