Medical staff treat a patient inside the emergency ward of Jawahar Lal Nehru Medical College and Hospital, during the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak, in Bhagalpur, Bihar, India, July 27, 2020. REUTERS/Danish Siddiqui TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY SEARCH "BHAGALPUR HOSPITAL COVID-19" FOR THIS STORY. SEARCH "WIDER IMAGE" FOR ALL STORIES. 

Armed security personnel stand guard as Dr. Kumar Gaurav, 42, a medical professor and consultant psychiatrist who has been named the top official at Jawahar Lal Nehru Medical College and Hospital during the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak, despite being one of its most junior consultants, speaks to his colleagues on the emergency ward of Jawahar Lal Nehru Medical College and Hospital, in Bhagalpur, Bihar, India, July 27, 2020. The guards are there to protect him from the relatives of patients, including those suffering from COVID-19. The relatives keep barging into the wards, even the ICU, to stroke and feed their loved ones, often without wearing even the flimsiest of masks as barriers against the novel coronavirus. "If we stop them, they get angry," Gaurav says. "They want to give homemade meals to their patients, and some even want to massage their patients. And they are taking the infections from our ICUs to the other people in the society." REUTERS/Danish Siddiqui SEARCH "BHAGALPUR HOSPITAL COVID-19" FOR THIS STORY. SEARCH "WIDER IMAGE" FOR ALL STORIES. 

Dr. Kumar Gaurav, 42, a medical professor and consultant psychiatrist who has been named the top official at Jawahar Lal Nehru Medical College and Hospital during the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak, despite being one of its most junior consultants, speaks to colleagues working in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) for COVID-19 patients, in Bhagalpur, Bihar, India, July 27, 2020. In June, Gaurav says, the district administration instructed the hospital to treat uninfected patients, too. "In an ideal world, there should not be any non-COVID patients in this hospital." REUTERS/Danish Siddiqui SEARCH "BHAGALPUR HOSPITAL COVID-19" FOR THIS STORY. SEARCH "WIDER IMAGE" FOR ALL STORIES. 

A patient suffering from diabetes lies on a hospital bed as his family look after him on the emergency ward of Jawahar Lal Nehru Medical College and Hospital, during the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak, in Bhagalpur, Bihar, India, July 26, 2020. REUTERS/Danish Siddiqui TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY SEARCH "BHAGALPUR HOSPITAL COVID-19" FOR THIS STORY. SEARCH "WIDER IMAGE" FOR ALL STORIES. 

Personal protective equipment (PPE) gear used by employees at a hotel for sanitising rooms, is left out to dry on a rooftop, during the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak, in Bhagalpur, Bihar, India, July 27, 2020. REUTERS/Danish Siddiqui SEARCH "BHAGALPUR HOSPITAL COVID-19" FOR THIS STORY. SEARCH "WIDER IMAGE" FOR ALL STORIES. 

Rising floodwaters approach the doorstep of a testing and isolation ward for suspected COVID-19 patients, during the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak, at the primary health centre in Ismailpur, Bhagalpur, Bihar, India, July 28, 2020. REUTERS/Danish Siddiqui SEARCH "BHAGALPUR HOSPITAL COVID-19" FOR THIS STORY. SEARCH "WIDER IMAGE" FOR ALL STORIES. 

People wash an ambulance on the banks of the Ganges river behind Jawahar Lal Nehru Medical College and Hospital, during the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak, in Bhagalpur, in the eastern state of Bihar, India, July 26, 2020. REUTERS/Danish Siddiqui SEARCH "BHAGALPUR HOSPITAL COVID-19" FOR THIS STORY. SEARCH "WIDER IMAGE" FOR ALL STORIES. 

A woman leans against a stretcher holding her husband in the corridor of the emergency ward of Jawahar Lal Nehru Medical College and Hospital, during the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak, in Bhagalpur, in the eastern state of Bihar, India, July 27, 2020. REUTERS/Danish Siddiqui TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY SEARCH "BHAGALPUR HOSPITAL COVID-19" FOR THIS STORY. SEARCH "WIDER IMAGE" FOR ALL STORIES. 

Dr. Kumar Gaurav, 42, a medical professor and consultant psychiatrist who has been named the top official at Jawahar Lal Nehru Medical College and Hospital during the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak, despite being one of its most junior consultants, wears personal protective equipment (PPE) as he speaks to a nurse who contracted COVID-19, on the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) of Jawahar Lal Nehru Medical College and Hospital in Bhagalpur, Bihar, India, July 26, 2020. "We don't know who is positive and who is negative," says Gaurav. "We don't know their status and we cannot wait for them to be tested. They just need the treatment. We are the most vulnerable population." REUTERS/Danish Siddiqui SEARCH "BHAGALPUR HOSPITAL COVID-19" FOR THIS STORY. SEARCH "WIDER IMAGE" FOR ALL STORIES. 

Dr. Kumar Gaurav, 42, a medical professor and consultant psychiatrist who has been named the top official at Jawahar Lal Nehru Medical College and Hospital during the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak, puts on his personal protective equipment (PPE) as his wife Dr. Mili Jaswal, a psychologist, looks on, at their home in Bhagalpur, Bihar, India, July 27, 2020. Now, with some doctors struck down by the coronavirus and others refusing to work, Gaurav has been named the top official at the hospital, despite being one of its most junior consultants – and suffering from diabetes and hypertension, two risk factors for severe COVID-19. But Gaurav says he felt compelled to volunteer for the job. "A lot of my colleagues refused," he says. "I had to take up the responsibility." REUTERS/Danish Siddiqui     SEARCH "BHAGALPUR HOSPITAL COVID-19" FOR THIS STORY. SEARCH "WIDER IMAGE" FOR ALL STORIES. 

COVID-19 patient Parsada Sah, 67, a shopkeeper, lies on a hospital bed as his wife Vimla Devi, 62, sits next to him in the emergency ward as they wait for Sah to be transferred to the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) of Jawahar Lal Nehru Medical College and Hospital, during the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak, in Bhagalpur, Bihar, India, July 27, 2020. REUTERS/Danish Siddiqui SEARCH "BHAGALPUR HOSPITAL COVID-19" FOR THIS STORY. SEARCH "WIDER IMAGE" FOR ALL STORIES. 

Sameer, 22, a medical worker, carries an oxygen cylinder on his shoulder as COVID-19 patient Parsada Sah, 67, a shopkeeper, is carried on a stretcher by his son Manoj Kumar Sah, 45, and Sameer's colleague as Parsada Sah is transferred from the emergency ward to the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) of Jawahar Lal Nehru Medical College and Hospital, during the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak, in Bhagalpur, Bihar, India, July 27, 2020. Even though Sah's family know that he is infected, the family goes inside the ward to feed Sah. "The staff just puts the food on the bed; they don't feed anyone," Manoj says. "If the patient can't eat himself, he has to get someone to help." REUTERS/Danish Siddiqui TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY SEARCH "BHAGALPUR HOSPITAL COVID-19" FOR THIS STORY. SEARCH "WIDER IMAGE" FOR ALL STORIES. 

An old locker hangs next to medical equipment above a hospital bed in the emergency ward of Jawahar Lal Nehru Medical College and Hospital, during the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak, in Bhagalpur, Bihar, India, July 28, 2020. REUTERS/Danish Siddiqui SEARCH "BHAGALPUR HOSPITAL COVID-19" FOR THIS STORY. SEARCH "WIDER IMAGE" FOR ALL STORIES. 

Used coronavirus testing kits are left on a table at a testing and isolation ward for suspected COVID-19 patients at the primary health centre in Ismailpur, during the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak, in Bhagalpur, Bihar, India, July 28, 2020. REUTERS/Danish Siddiqui SEARCH "BHAGALPUR HOSPITAL COVID-19" FOR THIS STORY. SEARCH "WIDER IMAGE" FOR ALL STORIES. 

Used coronavirus testing kits are left on a table at a testing and isolation ward for suspected COVID-19 patients at the primary health centre in Ismailpur, during the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak, in Bhagalpur, Bihar, India, July 28, 2020. REUTERS/Danish Siddiqui SEARCH "BHAGALPUR HOSPITAL COVID-19" FOR THIS STORY. SEARCH "WIDER IMAGE" FOR ALL STORIES. 

Medical workers Sameer, 22, and his colleague move COVID-19 patient Parsada Sah, 67, a shopkeeper, on a stretcher as Sah is transferred from the emergency ward to the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) of Jawahar Lal Nehru Medical College and Hospital, during the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak, in Bhagalpur, Bihar, India, July 27, 2020. REUTERS/Danish Siddiqui SEARCH "BHAGALPUR HOSPITAL COVID-19" FOR THIS STORY. SEARCH "WIDER IMAGE" FOR ALL STORIES. 

Dr. Kumar Gaurav, 42, a medical professor and consultant psychiatrist who has been named the top official at Jawahar Lal Nehru Medical College and Hospital during the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak, despite being one of its most junior consultants, talks to the wife of a COVID-19 patient who was admitted to the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) of Jawahar Lal Nehru Medical College and Hospital in Bhagalpur, Bihar, India, July 26, 2020. REUTERS/Danish Siddiqui SEARCH "BHAGALPUR HOSPITAL COVID-19" FOR THIS STORY. SEARCH "WIDER IMAGE" FOR ALL STORIES. 

Sameer, 22, a medical worker, wears a pair of sunglasses as part of his personal protective equipment (PPE) as he gets ready to transfer COVID-19 patient Parsada Sah, 67, from the emergency ward to the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) of Jawahar Lal Nehru Medical College and Hospital, during the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak, in Bhagalpur, Bihar, India, July 27, 2020. Sameer gestures to his overalls and says "we only get these once we are moving positive patients from the general ward to a COVID ward." Otherwise, he says, "we are the first people to receive a patient as they enter the gate, but we don't have any protection." REUTERS/Danish Siddiqui SEARCH "BHAGALPUR HOSPITAL COVID-19" FOR THIS STORY. SEARCH "WIDER IMAGE" FOR ALL STORIES. 

A woman tries to cool down her relative with a hand-held fan after he was admitted to the emergency ward of Jawahar Lal Nehru Medical College and Hospital, during the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak, in Bhagalpur, Bihar, India, July 27, 2020. REUTERS/Danish Siddiqui SEARCH "BHAGALPUR HOSPITAL COVID-19" FOR THIS STORY. SEARCH "WIDER IMAGE" FOR ALL STORIES. 

Patients wait to have their oxygen levels checked with a pulse oximeter after arriving at the emergency ward of Jawahar Lal Nehru Medical College and Hospital, during the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak, in Bhagalpur, Bihar, India, July 29, 2020. REUTERS/Danish Siddiqui SEARCH "BHAGALPUR HOSPITAL COVID-19" FOR THIS STORY. SEARCH "WIDER IMAGE" FOR ALL STORIES. 

Dr. Kumar Gaurav, 42, a medical professor and consultant psychiatrist who has been named the top official at Jawahar Lal Nehru Medical College and Hospital during the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak, despite being one of its most junior consultants, is helped by a colleague to put on personal protective equipment (PPE) before entering the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) for COVID-19 patients at Jawahar Lal Nehru Medical College and Hospital in Bhagalpur, Bihar, India, July 26, 2020. "If I stand in front of a COVID patient for two minutes, and I see 20 patients, I have exposure for 40 minutes," Gaurav says. REUTERS/Danish Siddiqui SEARCH "BHAGALPUR HOSPITAL COVID-19" FOR THIS STORY. SEARCH "WIDER IMAGE" FOR ALL STORIES. 

A man holds up an intravenous (IV) drip being used to treat his relative as they wait for him to be transferred to a hospital bed in the emergency ward of Jawahar Lal Nehru Medical College and Hospital, during the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak, in Bhagalpur, Bihar, India, July 28, 2020. REUTERS/Danish Siddiqui SEARCH "BHAGALPUR HOSPITAL COVID-19" FOR THIS STORY. SEARCH "WIDER IMAGE" FOR ALL STORIES. 

Stray dogs rest on top of discarded personal protective equipment (PPE) at a testing and isolation ward for suspected coronavirus disease (COVID-19) patients at the primary health centre in Ismailpur, during the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak, in Bhagalpur, Bihar, India, July 28, 2020. REUTERS/Danish Siddiqui SEARCH "BHAGALPUR HOSPITAL COVID-19" FOR THIS STORY. SEARCH "WIDER IMAGE" FOR ALL STORIES. 

A woman comforts her husband as they sit on a bed in the emergency ward of Jawahar Lal Nehru Medical College and Hospital, during the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak, in Bhagalpur, Bihar, India, July 28, 2020. REUTERS/Danish Siddiqui SEARCH "BHAGALPUR HOSPITAL COVID-19" FOR THIS STORY. SEARCH "WIDER IMAGE" FOR ALL STORIES. 

A health worker checks a patient's oxygen levels with a pulse oximeter after he arrived at the emergency ward of Jawahar Lal Nehru Medical College and Hospital, during the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak, in Bhagalpur, in Bihar, India, July 27, 2020. REUTERS/Danish Siddiqui SEARCH "BHAGALPUR HOSPITAL COVID-19" FOR THIS STORY. SEARCH "WIDER IMAGE" FOR ALL STORIES. 

A COVID-19 patient lies on a hospital bed as her son sits on the floor beside her, at the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) of Jawahar Lal Nehru Medical College and Hospital, during the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak, in Bhagalpur, Bihar, India, July 26, 2020. REUTERS/Danish Siddiqui SEARCH "BHAGALPUR HOSPITAL COVID-19" FOR THIS STORY. SEARCH "WIDER IMAGE" FOR ALL STORIES. 

Manoj Kumar Sah, 45, whose father Parsada Sah, a shopkeeper, has been diagnosed with COVID-19, waits with his mother Vimla Devi, 62, Parsada Sah's wife, in a waiting room before visiting Parsada Sah who is being treated in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) at Jawahar Lal Nehru Medical College and Hospital, during the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak, in Bhagalpur, Bihar, India, July 29, 2020. When Manoj showed his father's positive COVID-19 test to the doctor on duty, he says he was told there were no beds in COVID wards, and was asked to find himself a bed in an already overcrowded 20-bed general emergency ward. "We were told that this is the only place we can have for now, as there is no space," Manoj said. "We pleaded with them a lot. They told me that everyone wants a bed." REUTERS/Danish Siddiqui SEARCH "BHAGALPUR HOSPITAL COVID-19" FOR THIS STORY. SEARCH "WIDER IMAGE" FOR ALL STORIES. 

A patient wearing a protective mask looks on after he was admitted to the emergency ward of Jawahar Lal Nehru Medical College and Hospital, during the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak, in Bhagalpur, Bihar, India, July 27, 2020. REUTERS/Danish Siddiqui TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY SEARCH "BHAGALPUR HOSPITAL COVID-19" FOR THIS STORY. SEARCH "WIDER IMAGE" FOR ALL STORIES. 

A patient's relative is served food outside a ward at Jawahar Lal Nehru Medical College and Hospital, during the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak, in Bhagalpur, Bihar, India, July 26, 2020. REUTERS/Danish Siddiqui SEARCH "BHAGALPUR HOSPITAL COVID-19" FOR THIS STORY. SEARCH "WIDER IMAGE" FOR ALL STORIES. 

A COVID-19 patient lies on a hospital bed in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) of Jawahar Lal Nehru Medical College and Hospital, during the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak, in Bhagalpur, Bihar, India, July 26, 2020. REUTERS/Danish Siddiqui SEARCH "BHAGALPUR HOSPITAL COVID-19" FOR THIS STORY. SEARCH "WIDER IMAGE" FOR ALL STORIES. 

Sameer, 22, a medical worker, checks an oxygen cylinder before transferring COVID-19 patient Parsada Sah, 67, a shopkeeper, from the emergency ward to the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) of Jawahar Lal Nehru Medical College and Hospital, during the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak, in Bhagalpur, Bihar, India, July 27, 2020. REUTERS/Danish Siddiqui SEARCH "BHAGALPUR HOSPITAL COVID-19" FOR THIS STORY. SEARCH "WIDER IMAGE" FOR ALL STORIES. 

Patients sit on hospital beds inside the emergency ward of Jawahar Lal Nehru Medical College and Hospital, during the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak, in Bhagalpur, in Bihar, India, July 27, 2020. REUTERS/Danish Siddiqui SEARCH "BHAGALPUR HOSPITAL COVID-19" FOR THIS STORY. SEARCH "WIDER IMAGE" FOR ALL STORIES. 

A medical worker wears personal protective equipment (PPE) and a plastic bag over his head as he transports the body of a patient who was suspected to have died of COVID-19, at Jawahar Lal Nehru Medical College and Hospital, during the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak, in Bhagalpur, Bihar, India, July 27, 2020. REUTERS/Danish Siddiqui SEARCH "BHAGALPUR HOSPITAL COVID-19" FOR THIS STORY. SEARCH "WIDER IMAGE" FOR ALL STORIES. 

An X-ray picture taken from a patient is displayed on a lightbox in the emergency ward of Jawahar Lal Nehru Medical College and Hospital, during the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak, in Bhagalpur, Bihar, India, July 28, 2020. REUTERS/Danish Siddiqui SEARCH "BHAGALPUR HOSPITAL COVID-19" FOR THIS STORY. SEARCH "WIDER IMAGE" FOR ALL STORIES. 

A woman places incense sticks next to the body of her relative who died, as she waits for a vehicle to transport them back to the woman's home for final rites, at Jawahar Lal Nehru Medical College and Hospital, during the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak, in Bhagalpur district, Bihar, India, July 29, 2020. REUTERS/Danish Siddiqui SEARCH "BHAGALPUR HOSPITAL COVID-19" FOR THIS STORY. SEARCH "WIDER IMAGE" FOR ALL STORIES. 

A patient is moved by relatives onto an auto-rickshaw as they take him home after he received treatment at Jawahar Lal Nehru Medical College and Hospital, during the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak, in Bhagalpur, in Bihar, India, July 27, 2020. REUTERS/Danish Siddiqui SEARCH "BHAGALPUR HOSPITAL COVID-19" FOR THIS STORY. SEARCH "WIDER IMAGE" FOR ALL STORIES. 

Stretchers are left by a broken disinfectant tunnel installed at Jawahar Lal Nehru Medical College and Hospital, during the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak, in Bhagalpur, Bihar, India, July 28, 2020. REUTERS/Danish Siddiqui SEARCH "BHAGALPUR HOSPITAL COVID-19" FOR THIS STORY. SEARCH "WIDER IMAGE" FOR ALL STORIES. 

People attend a street market during a nation-wide imposed lockdown during the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak, in Bhagalpur, Bihar, India, July 29, 2020. REUTERS/Danish Siddiqui SEARCH "BHAGALPUR HOSPITAL COVID-19" FOR THIS STORY. SEARCH "WIDER IMAGE" FOR ALL STORIES.