What’s it like to live and die in the country with the most Covid cases in the world

India’s dramatic coronavirus crisis has forced the capital’s crematoria to build funeral pyres on the fly and against the clock, while parks and other empty areas in the capital are also used for cremations.

Strong demand has led families of the deceased to wait hours to cremate loved ones, while the number of deaths attributed to covid-19 continues to rise.

The second wave of the pandemic is devastating for the second most populous country in the world, with 1.35 billion inhabitants and which adds more than 300,000 new infections every day.

At the Sarai Kale Khan crematorium in the capital, at least 27 new pyres were built and another dozen were underway in an adjacent park on Tuesday. Authorities have also started to search for additional space near the Yamuna River bed.

According to the local press, the authorities in New Delhi have resorted to cutting down trees in city parks to use them as firewood for the pyres.

Relatives of the deceased were also asked to help with the cremation by stacking wood and participating in other rituals.

India has recorded more than a million cases of Covid-19 in just a few days. Shortages of drugs, ambulances, oxygen and beds in intensive care units (ICUs) have been reported.

At least two hospitals in the capital have seen their patients die after lacking oxygen.

And it has become increasingly difficult for families to transfer their patients to hospitals even if they find a bed available. Many, in fact, have died while waiting for one.

Given the scale of the crisis, social media is teeming with calls for help, with people desperate for oxygen, medicine and intensive care beds.

Many countries have offered to help. Britain has started shipping respirators and oxygen, although a spokesman for the Prime Minister, Narendra Modi, said the country has no surplus vaccines to make available to the UK. India.