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Modi leads India out of lockdown and into a Covid apocalypse

After relatively low infection rates, the country’s crushing second wave is being blamed on its crowd-loving prime minister

Funeral pyres burn across Delhi and across India, which is still two weeks from the peak of its new wave
Funeral pyres burn across Delhi and across India, which is still two weeks from the peak of its new wave
AMARJEET KUMAR SINGH/ALAMY
Philip Sherwell
The Sunday Times

Narendra Modi could not hide his delight as he surveyed his cheering supporters. “I’ve never seen such huge crowds,” the Indian prime minister declared at an election rally in West Bengal last Saturday.

As Modi’s followers massed, however, the health authorities recorded another grim milestone: India had hit 230,000 new coronavirus infections in 24 hours, an unenviable world record.

By yesterday the daily figure had topped 340,000, another global high. Hospitals are turning away the sick because there are not enough beds, oxygen or staff to treat them. It is likely to get much worse.

A man in Delhi is consoled as he sees his father’s body before burial
A man in Delhi is consoled as he sees his father’s body before burial
DANISH SIDDIQUI/REUTERS

Dr Shahid Jameel, a virologist and director of biosciences at Ashoka University near Delhi, said the peak of this second wave was still two weeks away and could see up