In Delhi, glowering photographs of a mass cremation mark a night of grief

The city recorded its highest 24-hour toll on Thursday.

On Thursday, Delhi recorded 306 coronavirus-related deaths, the highest single-day toll since the Covid-19 pandemic began last January. Across the city, hospitals scrambled to find oxygen for patients, faced with an enormous shortage of the gas.

The Covid-19 pandemic has claimed 13,193 lives in Delhi so far, and 184,657 around India.

With Delhi’s crematoriums under immense pressure, relatives of the dead are turning to makeshift facilities, where mass cremations are being conducted, Reuters reported.

“No one in Delhi would have ever witnessed such a scene,” Jitender Singh Shunty who runs a non-profit medical service called the Shaheed Bhagat Singh Sewa Dal told Reuters. “Children who were 5 years old, 15 years old, 25 years old are being cremated. Newlyweds are being cremated. It’s difficult to watch.”

Here are some images of the horrifying scene.