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Biden praying for 'right verdict' in Chauvin trial

US President Joe Biden said Tuesday that he is "praying the verdict is the right verdict" in the trial of former Minneapolis Police Officer Derek Chauvin and that he believed the case, which has gone to the jury and put the nation on edge, to be "overwhelming".

Biden, ahead of a meeting with lawmakers in the Oval Office, told reporters that he was only weighing in on the trial into the death of George Floyd, who died with Chauvin's knee on his neck, because the jury in the case had been sequestered. He confirmed that he called Floyd's family on Monday to offer prayers and said he "can only imagine the pressure and anxiety they're feeling."

"They're a good family and they're calling for peace and tranquility no matter what that verdict is," Biden said. "I'm praying the verdict is the right verdict. I think it's overwhelming, in my view. I wouldn't say that unless the jury was sequestered now."

READ MORE: 'So weird': City on edge awaiting Chauvin verdict

The president has repeatedly denounced Floyd's death but had previously stopped short of weighing in on the trial itself, with White House officials earlier saying it would be improper for a president to speak out during active judicial proceedings. His comments came as his administration has been privately weighing how to handle the upcoming verdict, including considering whether Biden should address the nation and dispatching specially trained community facilitators from the Justice Department, aides and officials told The Associated Press.

Biden's comments come a day after Judge Peter Cahill, who is presiding over the trial, admonished elected officials for speaking out about the case.

"I wish elected officials would stop talking about this case, especially in a manner that's disrespectful to the rule of law and to the judicial branch and our function," he said shortly after sending the jury to begin deliberations.

Biden's comments come with some risk. Defence attorneys often cite remarks made by public officials as a reason to appeal a verdict, in part because it could poison the jury against the defendant.

READ MORE: Murder case against ex-cop in George Floyd's death goes to the jury

Cahill delivered his rebuke after rejecting a defence request for a mistrial based in part on comments from California Rep. Maxine Waters, who said "we've got to get more confrontational" if Chauvin isn't convicted of murder. Speaking of politicians in general, he said, "I think if they want to give their opinions, they should do so in a respectful and in a manner that is consistent with their oath to the Constitution to respect a coequal branch of government. Their failure to do so, I think, is abhorrent."

He conceded to Chauvin's attorneys that Waters' comments could potentially be grounds for an appeal.

On Monday, Cahill ordered that the jury be sequestered in an undisclosed hotel during their deliberations and instructed jurors to avoid all news about the case, which in theory should keep them from being made aware of Biden's remarks.

The jury resumed deliberations Tuesday morning after spending a few hours Monday discussing the case behind closed doors. In closing arguments earlier in the day, a prosecutor told jurors that Chauvin "had to know" he was squeezing the life out of George Floyd as he cried over and over that he couldn't breathe and finally fell silent. Chauvin faces murder and manslaughter charges.

Floyd's brother, Philonise Floyd, told NBC's "Today" show that Biden "knows how it is to lose a family member … so he was just letting us know that he was praying for us and hoping that everything would come out to be OK."

The verdict — and the aftermath — will be a test for Biden, who has pledged to help combat racism in policing, helping African Americans who supported him in large numbers last year in the wake of protests that swept the nation after Floyd's death and restarted a national conversation about race. But he also has long projected himself as an ally of police, who are struggling with criticism about long-used tactics and training methods and difficulties in recruitment.

Psaki said Monday that the White House has had a "range of conversations" about preparations for the upcoming verdict and added, "Our objective is to ensure there is space for peaceful protest."

Psaki said administration officials have been in contact with leaders in Minnesota and in other cities and states that saw unrest after Floyd's death last year.

Meanwhile, the FBI and the US attorney's office in Minnesota have been working with local officials to support law enforcement as they prepare for the possibility of unrest after the verdict, officials said.

And the Justice Department has also dispatched specially trained community facilitators ahead of a verdict, according to a senior Justice Department official. The official could not discuss the plans publicly and spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity.

The officials, part of the Justice Department's Community Relations Service, tout themselves as "America's Peacemaker" by mediating disputes in communities and holding listening sessions to help prevent future conflicts.

A federal civil rights investigation, separate from the trial, remains ongoing. Several witnesses were subpoenaed earlier this year to appear before a federal grand jury considering charges against Chauvin.

The Justice Department's civil rights investigation has been focused on Chauvin and some of the witnesses, including other officers who worked with Chauvin, people familiar with the matter have told the AP.

Chauvin was prepared to plead guilty to third-degree murder in George Floyd's death before then-Attorney General William Barr personally blocked the plea deal last year. Barr rejected the deal in part because he felt it was too soon, as the investigation into Floyd's death was still in its relative infancy, law enforcement officials said.

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Patient left gasping for air for 10 hours as Indian hospitals buckle

Seema Gandotra, sick with the coronavirus, gasped for breath in an ambulance for 10 hours as it tried unsuccessfully to find an open bed at six hospitals in India's sprawling capital. By the time she was admitted, it was too late, and the 51-year-old died hours later.

Rajiv Tiwari, whose oxygen levels began falling after he tested positive for the virus, has the opposite problem: He identified an open bed, but the resident of Lucknow in Uttar Pradesh can't get to it. "There is no ambulance to take me to the hospital," he said.

Such tragedies are familiar from surges in other parts of the world — but were largely unknown in India, which was able to prevent a collapse in its health system last year through a harsh lockdown. But now they are everyday occurrences in the vast country, which is seeing its largest surge of the pandemic so far and watching its chronically underfunded health system crumble.

READ MORE: Australians who defy New Zealand travel bubble could face prison

Tests are delayed. Medical oxygen is scarce. Hospitals are understaffed and overflowing. Intensive care units are full. Nearly all ventilators are in use, and the dead are piling up at crematoriums and graveyards. India recorded over 250,000 new infections and over 1700 deaths in the past 24 hours alone, and the UK announced a travel ban on most visitors from the country this week. Overall, India has reported more than 15 million cases and some 180,000 deaths — and experts say these numbers are likely undercounted.

"The surge in infections has come like a storm and a big battle lies ahead," Prime Minister Narendra Modi said in an address to the nation Tuesday night.

India driving surge worldwide

India's wave of cases is contributing to a worldwide rise in infections as many places experience deepening crises, such as Brazil and France, spurred in part by new, more contagious variants, including one first detected in India. More than a year into the pandemic, global deaths have passed 3 million and are climbing again, running at nearly 12,000 per day on average. At the same time, vaccination campaigns have seen setbacks in many places — and India's surge has only exacerbated that: The country is a major vaccine producer but was forced to delay deliveries of shots to focus on its domestic demand.

Bhramar Mukherjee, a biostatistician at the University of Michigan who has been tracking India's pandemic, said India failed to learn from surges elsewhere and take anticipatory measures.

READ MORE: Disinfecting surfaces from COVID doesn't really do anything

When new infections started dipping in September, authorities thought the worst of the pandemic was over. Health Minister Harsh Vardhan even declared in March that the country had entered the "endgame" — but he was already behind the curve: Average weekly cases in Maharashtra state, home to the financial capital of Mumbai, had tripled in the previous month.

Mukherjee was among those who had urged authorities to take advantage of cases being low earlier in the year to speed up vaccinations. Instead, officials dithered in limiting huge gatherings during Hindu festivals and refused to delay ongoing elections in the eastern West Bengal state, where experts fear that large, unmasked crowds at rallies will fuel the spread of the virus.

Now India's two largest cities have imposed strict lockdowns, the pain of which will fall inordinately on the poor. Many have already left major cities, fearing a repeat of last year, when an abrupt lockdown cost millions of migrant workers their jobs in cities and forced many to walk to their home villages or risk starvation.

In his speech, Prime Minister Modi urged states to avoid lockdowns by creating micro-containment zones to control outbreaks instead.

'Hundreds of calls for beds every minute'

New Delhi, the capital, is rushing to convert schools into hospitals. Field hospitals in hard-hit cities that had been abandoned are being resuscitated. India is trying to import oxygen and has started to divert oxygen supplies from industry to the health system.

READ MORE: India's capital to lock down amid devastating virus surge

It remains to be seen whether these frantic efforts will be enough. New Delhi's government-run Sanjay Gandhi Hospital is increasing its beds for COVID-19 patients from 46 to 160. But R. Meneka, the official coordinating the COVID-19 response at the hospital, said he wasn't sure if the facility had the capacity to provide oxygen to that many beds.

The government-run hospital at Burari, an industrial hub in the capitals' outskirts, only had oxygen for two days Monday, and found that most vendors in the city had run out, said Ramesh Verma, who coordinates the COVID-19 response there.

"Every minute, we keep getting hundreds of calls for beds," he said.

Kamla Devi, a 71-year-old diabetic, was rushed to a hospital in New Delhi when her blood sugar levels fell last week. On returning home, her levels plummeted again but this time, there were no beds. She died before she could be tested for the virus. "If you have corona(virus) or if you don't, it doesn't matter. The hospitals have no place for you," said Dharmendra Kumar, her son.

Laboratories were unprepared for the steep rise in demand for testing that came with the current surge, and everyone was "caught with their pants down," said A. Velumani, the chairman and managing director of Thyrocare, one of India's largest private testing labs. He said the current demand was three times that of last year.

India's massive vaccination drive is also struggling. Several states have flagged shortages, although the federal government has claimed there are enough stocks.

India said last week that it would allow the use of all COVID-19 shots that have been greenlit by the World Health Organisation or regulators in the United States, Europe, Britain or Japan. On Monday, it said it would soon expand vaccinations to include every adult in the country, an estimated 900 million people. But with vaccines in short global supply, it isn't clear when Indian vaccine makers will have the capacity to meet these goals. Indian vaccine maker Bharat Biotech said it was scaling up to make 700 million doses each year.

Meanwhile, Shahid Malik, who works at a small supplier of oxygen, said the demand for medical oxygen had increased by a factor of 10. His phone has been ringing continuously for two days. By Monday, the shop still had oxygen but no cylinders.

He answered each call with the same message: "If you have your own cylinder, come pick up the oxygen. If you don't, we can't help you."