The second wave: oxygen shortages and uncounted deaths

What happened

After official declarations in early 2021 that India had defeated the pandemic, the Delta variant drove a catastrophic second wave in April and May. Reported daily cases crossed 400,000 in early May — the highest recorded anywhere in the world at the time — while actual infections were far higher. Hospitals in Delhi and across the country ran out of beds and medical oxygen; hospitals went to court pleading for emergency oxygen supplies, patients died in wards and ambulances, and families crowdsourced oxygen cylinders on social media. Crematoria and burial grounds were overwhelmed; bodies surfaced in the Ganges and in shallow riverbank graves.

As the wave built through March and April, large public events continued: campaign rallies for state elections drew huge crowds, and the Kumbh Mela at Haridwar gathered millions of pilgrims before being curtailed.

What the official record shows

In July 2021, the central government told the Rajya Sabha that no deaths due specifically to lack of oxygen had been reported by states and union territories — an answer met with public accounts and hospital statements to the contrary. In May 2022, the World Health Organization estimated India’s excess mortality in 2020–21 at 4.7 million, the highest of any country and roughly ten times the official COVID-19 death toll recorded at the time (about 481,000). India was the only member state to formally object to the WHO methodology, and the government rejects the estimate; the dispute itself is part of the record.

Where it stands

The second wave is documented as one of the deadliest public-health disasters in independent India. No official commission of inquiry into the preparedness failures — oxygen supply, hospital capacity, or the decision to allow mass gatherings during the surge — has been constituted.