The Board of Control for Cricket in India are stunningly giving its Indian Premier League stars a coronavirus vaccine next week to continue with the tournament, despite the country being in an increasing state of emergency due to the pandemic.
India is suffering from the world's worst second wave of Covid, driven by a new variant that is thought to be both more infectious and more deadly. Five straight days of record-breaking infections peaked above 350,000 cases in a single day on Monday. Hospitals unable to cope with the volume of Covid patients needing emergency care have put out SOS calls amid oxygen shortages, while videos taken in Delhi showed bodies lining the streets waiting to be burned, with crematorium staff now working day and night to meet demand.