India's Covid nightmare: BBC News Review

An aggressive second wave of Covid is sweeping across India and hospitals are becoming overwhelmed – meaning they can’t cope. A new website was launched to allow adults to register for a vaccine, but demand was so high that it crashed. There is a delay in reporting the number of infections and deaths, so the true number may be much higher that thought. Neil and Catherine give you the vocabulary to talk about it.

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Video chapters:
0:00​​​​​​​​​​​ - Introduction
0:20 - Story
2:15​​​​ - Headline 1: Covid-19 in India: Patients struggle at home as hospitals choke
5:37​​​ - Headline 2: China offered Covid aid to India while US dragged its feet, but Delhi isn't that keen
8:18 - Headline 3: Is a new variant driving India’s coronavirus catastrophe
11:03​​​​​​​​​​​ - Language summary

The story
India continues to struggle with an aggressive second wave of infections. The Indian government had announced that starting Wednesday, all adults could register for vaccinations. But the website crashed within minutes of its launch. While some managed to register, many others complained they weren’t able to get through.

Meanwhile hospitals have been overwhelmed by more and more new patients. Families complain that access to hospital beds or even medical oxygen remains a challenge.

Testing centres are also inundated and have been unable to provide reports for two to three days – meaning the actual number of cases in the country could be much higher.

Key words and phrases

choke
stop functioning because of being too full

The roads were choked. Nothing could get through.
She was ten points ahead in the final but choked and ended up losing.

dragged its feet
responded slowly

The company dragged its feet over equal pay and ended up in court.
If you drag your feet any more, you’ll miss your opportunity.

driving
pushing something in a certain direction

An increase in production costs can drive inflation.
She was driven to alcohol by all the pressure of work.

Test your understanding on our website at: https://www.bbc.co.uk/learningenglish/english/course/newsreview/unit-18/session-192

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