India sets Covid-19 infection record for fourth straight day

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India sets Covid-19 infection record for fourth straight day with hospitals desperate for oxygen

(CNN)India reported 349,691 new cases of Covid-19 on Saturday, the fourth day in a row the country has set a world record for daily infections during the coronavirus pandemic, according to government and scientific tallies.

The country also reported its highest daily death toll for the ninth consecutive day, adding 2,767 fatalities in the past 24 hours.

The country of 1.3 billion people has logged over a million new cases in the past three days, bringing its pandemic totals up to 16.9 million recorded cases of the coronavirus, including 192,311 deaths.

The sky-rocketing Covid-19 infections are devastating India's communities and hospitals. Everything is in short supply -- intensive care unit beds, medicine, oxygen and ventilators. Bodies are piling up in morgues and crematoriums, and authorities have been forced to hold mass cremations at makeshift sites.

Just six weeks ago, India's Health Minister declared the country was "in the endgame" of the Covid-19 pandemic.

But Sunday's numbers, which represent the highest caseload recorded in a single day anywhere in the world, according to a CNN tally of figures from John Hopkins University, tell a different story.

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