Madhya Pradesh coronavirus news: The video was taken at Shahdol district.
A health worker dressed in PPE kit waits for his order of juice after stopping an ambulance carrying a Covid patient at a shop, in a shocking video that has emerged from Madhya Pradesh. If this callousness was not bad enough in the middle of a massive surge in virus cases, the man is heard defending his decision to stop the ambulance for a break while transporting a patient.
In the video taken at Shahdol district, the health worker is seen waiting for sugarcane juice at the roadside shop while his colleague - also wearing the PPE kit - sits inside the ambulance. His face mask is pulled down to his chin, which is in clear violation of protocol at public places. Many people are seen walking past the healthcare worker at the busy road, possibly exposed to infection.
"You are transporting a corona patient and also not wearing mask properly," asks the bystander who shot the video on his mobile phone.
"I don't have corona. I am just transporting the patient. Let me drink," snaps the health worker, who is later seen pulling the mask back up as he realises he is on camera.
Madhya Pradesh is among the 10 states accounting for more than 84 per cent of daily cases, according to the Health Ministry.
The state has 3,41,887 active COVID-19 cases and the number of dead has crossed the 54,000-mark.
This morning, India set another record of daily Covid cases with 1,31,968 infections in the last 24 hours, pushing the total case count to over 1.3 crore. The surge, much steeper than last year's first wave, has forced many states to impose tight curbs.
India's COVID-19 cases have soared 13-fold in barely two months - a vicious second wave propelled by an open disregard for safety protocols nationwide - that has seen the third-hardest hit country soaring past its mid-September peak of around 98,000 cases a day.
Election rallies, as well as crowded festivals and religious gatherings, have characterised the record resurgence of the new coronavirus.