India’s ultra-rich are paying tens and thousands of dollars to escape thecountry as it set a new global record for daily coronavirus infections –for the fourth day in a row.

In the last week, India has become the new epicenter of the virus, whichhas completely overwhelmed the country’s healthcare system and crematoriumsand has led to a dire shortage of oxygen.

On Sunday, public health officials reported 349,691 new Covid-19 cases inthe country, according to Sky News.

They also reported 2,767 deaths, another daily record, as some nationsannounced they would implement travel restrictions on visitors from India.

The alarming numbers are prompting wealthy Indians to pay thousands forlast-minute flights and private jets as travel restrictions come into place.

One popular destination seems to be the United Arab Emirates, which is onlya short distance away from India and usually operates hundreds of flightsthere.

It announced this week that it was barring the entry of travelers fromIndia for 10 days from April 25, according to Gulf News.

A spokesman for charter company Air Charter Service India told AFP that theamount of interest in private jets has been “absolutely crazy.”

“We have 12 flights going to Dubai tomorrow and each flight is completelyfull,” the spokesman said Friday, according to The Economic Times.

Another private jet provider, Enthral Aviation, said it has beenoverwhelmed by hundreds of inquiries over the last few days.

“We have requested more aircraft from abroad to meet the demand … It costs$38,000 to hire a 13-seater jet from Mumbai to Dubai and $31,000 to hire asix-seater aircraft,” an Enthral Aviation spokesperson said, according toThe Economic Times.

“People are making groups and arranging to share our jets just to get aseat… We’ve had some queries for Thailand but mostly the demand is forDubai,” they added.

According to the Sunday Times, at least eight private jets were flown toBritain from India in the last 24 hours as the UK implemented its owntravel ban on the country. It is reported that the jets may have cost morethan $138,000 (£100,000) to charter for the nine-hour flight.

India has been facing an unexpected and devastating second coronaviruswave. A shocking video from the BBC, published Thursday, showed peopledying on stretchers while waiting for help outside a hospital.

In New Delhi, which has been hit particularly hard, one person is said tobe dying of COVID-19 every four minutes.

The US government said on Saturday that it was seriously concerned aboutthe worsening situation in the country and that it was in high-level talksto deploy extra help to Indian healthcare workers.

“Our hearts go out to the Indian people in the midst of the horrificCOVID-19 outbreak,” US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Twitter.

“We are working closely with our partners in the Indian government, and wewill rapidly deploy additional support to the people of India and India’shealth care heroes.”

With life-saving oxygen in short supply, family members in India are lefton their own to ferry coronavirus patients from hospital to hospital insearch of treatment as the country is engulfed in a devastating new surgeof infections. Too often their efforts end in mourning.

The stories are told on social media and in television footage, showingdesperate relatives pleading for oxygen outside hospitals or weeping in thestreet for loved ones who died waiting for treatment.

One woman mourned the death of her younger brother, aged 50. He was turnedaway by two hospitals and died waiting to be seen at a third, gasping afterhis oxygen tank ran out and no replacements were to be had.—APP/AFP