Over the past few weeks, India’s unpreparedness for the second wave of coronavirus has exposed the poor health infrastructure in the country. The nation is reporting record numbers of cases or deaths on a daily basis.

The New Zealand High Commission in New Delhi has reached out to the national president of the Indian Youth Congress (IYC) seeking help for oxygen cylinders. However minutes later, they deleted the said tweet.

​Putting out a clarification, the High Commission took to Twitter and issued an apology saying its appeal was misinterpreted. Although, an IYC team subsequently reached out to them and supplied the oxygen cylinders.

​On Saturday night, the IYC supplied the Embassy of the Philippines in New Delhi with several oxygen cylinders following which several Congress leaders had slammed the Indian government.

​India’s External Affairs Minister Subramanyam Jaishankar, however, called the act a cheap publicity stunt.

​Over the last month, India has witnessed a massive surge in COVID cases. Incidents of ambulances queuing up outside hospitals, bodies piling up outside crematoriums and graveyards, and basic medical facilities seemingly crumbling in parts of the country due to lack of hospital beds and ventilators are being reported on a daily basis.

According to the Health Ministry, India reported 392,488 new COVID cases, 3,689 deaths in the last 24 hours. This is the highest the country has seen so far.