12 shocking images that show how bad the COVID-19 crisis is in India – USA TODAY

Editor's note: Images used in this story depict mass cremations and may be difficult for readers to look through.

COVID-19 cases are growing exponentially in India. As thisnew wave sweeps the nation of more than 1 billion, hospitals are running out of oxygen tanks and room to house patients.

And the COVID-19 death count keeps climbing, to the point where authorities are holding mass cremations.

India recorded 379,308 new coronavirus cases on Wednesday, according to data from Johns Hopkins University. That same day, 3,645 COVID-related deaths were also recorded.

India now holds the second-highest COVID-19 case count in the world more than 18 million since the pandemic started, with the U.S. in the top spot with more than 32 million confirmed cases since last year.

Family members and ambulance workers in PPE gear carry the body of a victim who died from COVID-19 complications to a cremation site in New Delhi, India on Tuesday.PRAKASH SINGH, AFP via Getty Images

Multiple funeral pyres of victims of COVID-19 burn in an area that has been converted for mass cremation in New Delhi, India, Saturday, April 24, 2021.Altaf Qadri, AP

Relatives and municipal workers in protective gear bury the body of a person who died due to COVID-19 in Gauhati, India, Sunday, April 25, 2021.Anupam Nath, AP

People stand near bodies of COVID-19 victims lined up before cremation at a mass cremation site in New Delhi, India on Wednesday.MONEY SHARMA, AFP via Getty Images

Exhausted workers, who bring dead bodies for cremation, sit on the rear step of an ambulance inside a crematorium, in New Delhi, India, Saturday, April 24, 2021.Altaf Qadri, AP

Published5:46 pm UTC Apr. 29, 2021Updated5:57 pm UTC Apr. 29, 2021

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12 shocking images that show how bad the COVID-19 crisis is in India - USA TODAY