MUMBAI: The Indian Navy mounted a massive air and sea rescue mission on Tuesday (May 18) for 81 missing oil workers and crew whose barge sank in heavy seas following a powerful cyclone that tore up the west coast of the country a day earlier.

The vessel was carrying 273 people when it started drifting on Monday. Around 180 of those on board the barge were rescued from the water as it sank off Mumbai.

Tens of thousands of people were evacuated while authorities in Mumbai shifted about 600 COVID-19 patients in field hospitals “to safer locations”.

Indian daily the Tribune described the vessel as a barge used for engineering and cargo purposes.

READ: Monster cyclone batters COVID-19 stricken India’s west coast

READ: India’s Gujarat state braces for most severe cyclone in over two decades

Efforts had started to move crew stuck on a second barge that was driven aground by the storm, the navy said.

“There are waves of 20 to 25 feet, the winds are high and the visibility is low,” said navy spokesman Vivek Madhwal. “Ships and have aircraft have been deployed for the search and rescue mission.”

Cyclone Tauktae, the most powerful storm to batter the west coast in two decades, ripped out power pylons, trees and caused house collapses killing at least 19 people, authorities said.

The storm made landfall in Gujarat state, piling up the pressure at a time when India is grappling with a staggering spike in coronavirus cases and deaths as well as a shortage of beds and oxygen in hospitals.

The colossal cyclone  claimed lives in Kerala, Goa, Maharashtra and Gujarat as savage winds swept through flimsy homes and uprooted trees and electricity pylons.

TAIPEI: Taiwan reported 240 cases of domestically transmitted cases of COVID-19 and two more deaths on Tuesday (May 18), as it shifted all classes online to tackle a spike in coronavirus cases.

Taiwan has reported almost 1,000 new domestic infections during the past week, leading to new curbs in the capital, Taipei, and shocking a population that had become accustomed to life carrying on almost normally, with the pandemic well under control.

Education Minister Pan Wen-chung told reporters that starting Wednesday, all schools across the island would be closed until May 28, with classes held online.

Speaking at the same news conference, Health Minister Chen Shih-chung announced 240 new domestic COVID-19 cases, down from the 333 reported on Monday. He also announced two new deaths, bringing the total since the start of the pandemic to 14.

Chen cautioned that the smaller increase in cases did not mean the virus had been brought under control.

“We don’t view this with optimism,” he added.

However, Chen said, most of the cases being reported were mild ones.

Taiwan has reported a total of 2,260 infections since the start of the pandemic.

DIPLOMATS MOBILISED TO SECURE VACCINES

Taiwan – which has vaccinated less than 1 per cent of its population – is also mobilising its diplomatic corps to secure a speedier delivery of COVID-19 vaccines.

The major semiconductor manufacturing hub has only received about 300,000 shots so far for its more than 23 million people, all AstraZeneca vaccines, and those are rapidly running out.

In comments published on Tuesday by Taiwan’s official Central News Agency, Taipei’s top official in Washington said she was in talks with the United States for a share of the COVID-19 vaccine doses President Joe Biden plans to send abroad.

“We are in negotiations and striving for it,” said Hsiao Bi-khim, the de facto Taiwanese ambassador to the United States.

She said that although vaccine purchases were the remit of Taiwan’s health ministry, her office’s role was to talk to the United States about speeding up those requests.

Biden said the United States would send at least 20 million more vaccine doses abroad by the end of June.

A source briefed on the situation told Reuters the US government had already been helping Taiwan coordinate with manufacturers to speed up deliveries.

The United States, like most countries, has no formal diplomatic relations with Chinese-claimed Taiwan, but is its most important international backer.

Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen, speaking on Tuesday, said they hoped to provide domestically developed vaccines before the end of July, and that more imported ones were on the way.

“Vaccines that we purchased through various channels will gradually arrive from overseas. Everyone, please don’t be worried,” she said.

Taiwan has ordered 20 million doses, mostly from AstraZeneca but also from Moderna, though global shortages have curtailed supplies.

Taiwan has said it also expected to get more than 1 million AstraZeneca shots via the COVAX vaccine-sharing programme for lower-income countries.

A second source familiar with the matter said Taiwan’s diplomats in Germany had been involved in talks with BioNTech.

Taiwan complained in February the firm had pulled out of a deal to sell it 5 million doses at the last minute, possibly because of Chinese pressure. BioNTech later said it did plan to provide COVID-19 vaccines to Taiwan.

BioNTech declined to comment on the status of the talks.

Taiwan Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Joanne Ou also declined to comment on details of getting vaccines.

“We are making great efforts and trying through all means to get the qualified vaccines for our people and residents,” she said.

AHMEDABAD, India: India’s total COVID-19 caseload surged past 25 million on Tuesday (May 18) as a powerful cyclone complicated the health crisis in one of the states where the disease is spreading most quickly.

COVID-19 tests were administered to 200,000 people evacuated from coastal districts of the western state of Gujarat before the cyclone struck late on Monday and efforts were being made to try to limit any spread of infections.

“Masks have been arranged for people shifted to shelter homes,” said Sandip Sagale, a top official in Ahmedabad, the main city in Gujarat.

“Efforts are also made to maintain social distancing.”

India’s total tally of coronavirus cases surged past the 25 million mark with 263,533 new infections over the past 24 hours, while deaths from COVID-19 rose by a record 4,329.

Only the United States has had more cases, or a worse single day death toll, when it lost 5,444 people on Feb 12. But whereas the epidemic peaked months ago in the United States, there is no certainty that India’s infections have.

READ: India’s COVID-19 cases lower but WHO expert says positive tests ominously high

Though the official count shows new infections subsiding, there are fears that the new, highly infectious B1617 variant, first found in India, is running out of control and many cases, particularly in rural areas, are going unreported due to lack of testing.

India’s total caseload since the virus first struck over a year ago, stands at 25.23 million, while the death toll is at 278,719, according to health ministry data.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s home state of Gujarat had suffered a 30 per cent increase in infections since May 2, while the total number of vaccinations administered in the state last week was just 1.1 million – half the total of a month earlier.

The storm complicated efforts to tackle the coronavirus in the state as vaccinations were suspended for two days, while hospitals awaited back-up generators to keep power running and additional oxygen supplies.

Gujarat Chief Minister Vijay Rupani said oxygen manufacturing and distribution was not disrupted. Out of the more than 1,400 hospitals designated for treating COVID-19, power failures were reported in 16, and restored in 12, while the remaining four moved to back-up generators.

“STRUGGLING” VACCINATION DRIVE

In neighbouring Maharashtra state, which was sideswiped by the cyclone on Monday, 1,000 coronavirus deaths were reported overnight – the worst toll nationwide. The infection rate in Maharashtra has soared 15 per cent in the last two weeks, government data showed.

The pace of vaccination in Maharashtra has fallen 30 per cent since peaking in early April, according to data from the government’s Co-WIN portal.

Since Apr 1, 269 doctors have died of COVID-19, 78 of them in the mostly rural state of Bihar, according to data released by the Indian Medical Association.

READ: India pledges to distribute more COVID-19 vaccines as states extend lockdowns

“The surge has been very devastating,” Jayesh Lele, secretary general of the IMA, told Reuters.

In the northern state of Uttar Pradesh, home to more people than Brazil, rural areas have been severely hit, as healthcare systems have struggled to cope.

Incensed by scarce testing and tracing, a state court remarked on Monday the situation was turning to “God’s mercy”, and hurtling towards a “third wave”.

“If this is the state of affairs of five districts, one can guess where we are leading people of this state to, i.e. (a) third wave of the pandemic,” the state’s Allahabad High Court said.

Chandrakant Lahariya, a public policy and health systems expert, said in the Hindustan Times newspaper that India’s vaccine policy urgently needed a reset.

“For six weeks now, India’s vaccination drive has been struggling. How long must one wait before acknowledging that what was planned is not working?

READ: Biden to send 20 million doses of US-authorised COVID-19 vaccines abroad for first time

“Part of the problem seems to be the fact that there is political decision-making in the areas that are purely technical. The political leadership should give a free hand to technical experts to decide and implement new strategies.”

US President Joe Biden announced on Monday that his administration would send at least 20 million more COVID-19 vaccine doses abroad by the end of June. Biden has been under pressure to share vaccines to help contain worsening epidemics from India to Brazil, where new, more contagious coronavirus variants have become rampant.

HONG KONG: Hong Kong’s government suspended operations at its representative office in Taiwan on Tuesday (May 18), in a sign of escalating diplomatic tension between the global financial hub and the democratically-ruled island that Beijing claims.

Tension between Hong Kong’s Beijing-backed government and Taiwan have risen since protests erupted in Hong Kong in 2019 and China responded by imposing a sweeping national security law in the city that prompted many activists to leave, some for Taiwan.

A Hong Kong government representative did not provide an explanation for the decision to halt operations at the Hong Kong Economic, Trade and Cultural Office, adding only that the decision was not related to the recent rise in coronavirus cases in Taiwan.

“The suspension is not related to the pandemic situation in Taiwan. We do not have anything further to add,” the representative said in a statement.

READ: Taiwan mobilises diplomats to seek out COVID-19 shots

Taiwan’s government said that while it respected the decision, it also regretted it.

“We express deep regret at today’s unilateral decision by the Hong Kong government,” Taiwan’s Mainland Affairs Council said in a statement.

Taiwan has criticised the security law that Beijing imposed in Hong Kong and opened an office in Taipei to help people who may want to leave.

In August last year, China intercepted a boat carrying 12 people from Hong Kong, who had all faced charges related to the anti-government protests, and were apparently looking to escape to Taiwan.

Last year, Taiwan officials in Hong Kong were told their visas would not be renewed unless they signed a document supporting Beijing’s claim to Taiwan under its “one China” policy, a person with direct knowledge of the matter told Reuters.

READ: Hong Kong leader says freezing media tycoon Jimmy Lai’s assets will hopefully reinforce financial hub status

Taiwan’s Mainland Affairs Council said this month there were only eight Taiwanese staff members left at its de facto consulate in Hong Kong, and that all their visas were due to expire this year.

Hong Kong’s Constitutional and Mainland Affairs Bureau said the suspension in operations meant requests for assistance from Hong Kong people in Taiwan would be handled through hotlines and via a Hong Kong government website.

Beijing sees Taiwan as part of “one China” and has never renounced the use of force to bring the island under its control.

China has proposed that Taiwan be brought under Chinese rule under a similar “one country two systems” arrangement it offered to Hong Kong when it returned to Chinese rule in 1997.

All of Taiwan’s main political parties have rejected the idea.

Hong Kong has long served as an important trade and investment conduit between Taiwan and China, which have no diplomatic relations.

The security law in Hong Kong punishes what China broadly defines as subversion, secession, terrorism and collusion with foreign forces with up to life in prison.

Critics of the law fear it will crush the wide-ranging freedoms promised when it returned to Chinese rule. Supporters say it has restored the stability that is essential for its economic success.