India’s crematoria overwhelmed as virus ‘swallows people like a monster’

Multiple funeral pyres burn at a ground in New Delhi that has been converted into a crematorium for Covid-19 victims (Altaf Qadri/AP)

India’s crematoria and burial grounds are being overwhelmed by the devastating new surge of coronavirus infections tearing through the country, depleting the supply of life-saving oxygen to critical levels and leaving patients to die while waiting to see doctors.

For the fourth straight day, on Sunday India set a global daily record of new infections, spurred by the emergence of a new variant that has undermined the government’s premature claims of victory over the pandemic.