India's seven-day COVID average at new high, WHO issues warning on strain

India's coronavirus crisis showed scant sign of easing on May 11, with a seven-day average of new cases at a record high and international heath authorities warning the country's variant of the virus poses a global concern.

India's daily coronavirus cases rose by 329,942, while deaths from the disease rose by 3,876, according to the health ministry. India's total coronavirus infections are now at 22.99 million, while total fatalities rose to 249,992.

India leads the world in the daily average number of new deaths reported, accounting for one in every three deaths reported worldwide each day, according to a Reuters tally.

The seven-day average of new cases is at a record high of 390,995.

The World Health Organization said the coronavirus variant first identified in the country last year was being classified as a variant of global concern, with some preliminary studies showing that it spreads more easily.

"We are classifying this as a variant of concern at a global level," Maria Van Kerkhove, WHO technical lead on COVID-19, told a briefing in Geneva on May 10. "There is some available information to suggest increased transmissibility."

Nations around the globe have sent oxygen cylinders and other medical gear to support India's crisis, but many hospitals around the nation are struggling with a shortage of life-saving equipment.

Eleven people died late on May 10 in a government hospital in Tirupati, a city in the southern state of Andhra Pradesh, due to a delay in the arrival of a tanker carrying oxygen, a government official said.

"There were issues with oxygen pressure due to low availability. It all happened within a span of five minutes," said M Harinarayan, the district's top bureaucrat said late on May 10,...