Countries send aid as India sets new Covid record for fourth day in row

Hospitals are overwhelmed, crematoriums overflowing and oxygen is so scarce that people are turning to the black market in an effort to save loved ones – as India struggles to cope with a devastating new surge in Covid infections.

The UK government is sending nine plane loads of medical equipment, including ventilators and oxygen concentrators – as Boris Johnson said Britain stood “side by side with India in the shared fight against Covid 19”.