The state is among the worst affected as a severe second wave of Covid-19 sweeps India. Varanasi, which is struggling to cope with the pandemic, is Prime Minister Narendra Modi's constituency.

In the holy city of Varanasi ... Covid drugs, and oxygen is in short supply." Mr Kapoor said when he took his mother's body to the cremation ground, he encountered a "lashon ka dher" - a pile ...