♪ this is "nightline." >> tonight, the helping hands. racing to save lives in india. we're at the sikh community, an often persecuted minority in the country now on the front lines of the pandemic. >> day and night, we are open 24/7. we don't charge anything. we give them food, give them water. everything they need. sacrifice. >> everyone is joining hands because this is a need. >> searching for accountability. plus going maskless? the cdc changes its guidance. what fully vaccinated people can now do. [sfx: thunder rumbles] [sfx: rainstorm]

♪ comfort in the extreme. ♪ the lincoln family of luxury suvs. ♪ i've got nothing to eat. nothing. [crying] hold on, i can do something. ♪turning nothing into something♪ ♪i turned nothing into something♪ it's amazing what you can do with nothing, and a little best foods. it's amazing what you can do with nothing, ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ hey google, turn up the heat. ♪ ♪ ♪

receive a chargepoint home flex charger or a public charging credit. see you volvo retailer for details. good evening. thank you for joining us. tonight, the covid catastrophe unfolding in india. with the health care system on the brink, we take a look at one minority there, the sikhs, providing aid to their fellow countrymen. here's abc's maggie rulli.

>> reporter: anit and ana singh are in a rush to prevent death. they rush oxygen, a lifeline to people in desperate need in new delhi. they're part of kolsa aid, an organization that gets much-needed supplies, like oxygen concentrators, and getting it to those who need it. once-crowded sidewalks now overflowing with makeshift clinics. >> the medical system has collapsed. people who could save money, even if we spend our money, even if we spend our time, even if we spend our energy, we're not able to save our patients. >> reporter: overworked staff and volunteers working around the clock in 100-degree heat, to save whatever lives they can. >> we are beyond capacity in icu. we have a 48-bed icu which we have stretched to 56 beds, because we have a 100-american

hospital, the need is packed now. >> reporter: a dark cloud looms over the country's hospitals. crematoriums can't keep up. di he begun washing up on the shores of india's holiest waters, the ganges river. the virus claiming the lives of more than 4,000 people over each of the past two days. over 400,000 new cases reported each day over the past week. with testing scarce, many deaths going unreported, experts believe the number of those infected could be five to ten times higher. the world health organization that is designated this new more contagious strain of disease a variant of concern. new delhi, the capital of the world's second-most populous country, a ghost town. the city under lockdown gain. in new delhi, we're in total lockdown. in some parts of the city that looks like did. this is a quiet day in this neighborhood because when you have a city of 22 million people, sometimes people living pretty much on top of other

people, it's just impossible for everyone to stay six feet apart. we're on an urgent delivery run with khalsa aid, urgent ventilators, stepping in to save lives where hospital systems have failed. donations coming in from all over the world, from the uk, from china, from america. for neha, this delivery is a sigh of relief. her husband has been in need of oxygen for days. >> we tried so many leads for oxygen concentrators, but their phone numbers are unreachable or some are fake. but we reached you people yesterday and i'm very, very happy. at least i can save my husband's life. >> reporter: she's one of the lucky ones in a country where precious little seems to be going right these days. blamed for all that's going wrong widespread. >> the fingers have to be pointed to the government first.

they are the -- they cannot abandon their children, they're the parents. it's all about standing, the communities standing in for them, for the persons who are in need. >> reporter: with resources scarce, people from all over have joined in to help. newlywed newlyweds say they sprung into action on day one of this crisis. >> right now we have found some sources from where we can get regular supplies, and we have brought some concentrators which people have donated. >> reporter: the couple creating a makeshift hospital, created out of a wedding venue, getting oxygen to those in need. >> day and night, 24/7. we don't charge anything. people get free of cost here.cy concentrators. we give them food, give them water. everything they need. >> reporter: the two aren't from delhi, and they're not even medical professionals. they're tech workers from punjab, almost 250 miles away.

after getting married just a few months ago, they planned on a honeymoon. but with the death toll rising, they said instead, they wanted to help. >> i and my husband were the first two volunteers of this drive-thru. and from the day one, we haven't gone back to our home. so we are very happily staying here. we are just so satisfied that we are helping people. >> reporter: you see people die in front of you the past couple of weeks. what makes you keep coming back? >> it's the passion that i have inside me that came from my religion. i am a sikh, i am born to die. that's just a word that i use. and you know, every breath that i am taking right now is given by god. from our history, our gurus, our sikhs have done for the people, they have just sacrificed their lives for humanity. >> reporter: their selfless service, called siwah, is a defining tenet of the sikh

religion. why is service so important to you? >> god has given us this motto and aim. you just need to save the people. that's it. everyone is joining hands because this is a need. this is a cause of the country, so everyone needs to join hands. >> reporter: we were in awe by the number of sikhs we saw on the front lines. they make up less than 2% of the nation's population, but everywhere we went, we saw sikh caregivers. even khalsa aid, a nonprofit, is run by sikhs. what is it about the sikh community? why are we seeing this collective effort of service? why is it important to you to serve? >> we can help. it's more like in our dna. w have to send, when there is some situation, when you have to deal with such situations, when you have to feed the poor, when you have to deal with economic crisis. the poor, the sikh community has always been there. >> reporter: throughout india's

modern history, the hindu majority has frequently persecuted this community. lailon sikhs had been front and center in what's been dubbed the largest protest in world history. farmers descended on the capital to protest new laws they felt would hurt their ability to farm successfully. but when the most recent crisis hit, priorities changed. the sikhs stepped up to help. >> it as lot more a drive to divide people on lines of religion and caste, but what this pandemic has at least shown is that people can rise above it very quickly. >> the pandemic is sometimes a great equalizer? >> yeah. i think the -- what the pandemic -- people shouldn't forget in this pandemic, is the kindness they have shown, that they should continue to show that kindness. >> reporter: he lives in a posh neighborhood of delhi. he stopped his law practice when things got bad and has been working to find the resources to build another desperately needed clinic.

>> if you look back at history, where there has been any sort of oppression, injustice, one of the first communities to stand up against it has been the sikh community. and i'm very proud to consider myself to be part of that. >> reporter: across new delhi, it seemed as if every gudwara, sikh house ofworship, has been transformed into an emergency room. singh was wrapping up the night shift when we met him. he said he brought his grandmother to this free clinic, then stayed on to help. hasn't been home or seen his 3-month-daughter since. >> we'll try to save as much as we can. that's the best we can do. >> reporter: at its worst, he tells us he saw a dozen people die every day. but it's the ones he's able to help thatpim nu, herotclinic. manu says she was turned away from the hospital and had nowhere else to go. >> it was very scary, the middle

of the night, 50. she was told to come here. thankfully, her mom's been on oxygen since last night and now appears to be stable. >> reporter: three days later, manu's mother is improving. that makeshift clinic possibly saving her life. doctors here agree, there's only one thing that will end this crisis. how vital are vaccines in getting not only india but the world out of this crisis? >> i think that's the only solution, one of the only solutions at the moment. we don't have any choice. >> reporter: india is the world's largest vaccinemaker. but when the country thought it had beat the deadly disease, it began distributing vaccines around the world. now that it's raging at home, they're struggling to get enough doses. >> just like india reached out to other countries, india vaccine diplomacy, other countries should reach out to the other undeveloped countries which do not have the vaccine.

if the whole world is not vaccinated, it's going to affect the whole world. in this crisis, every country has to help each other. so maybe the other countries vaccines also. >> reporter: only about 3% of p h bn a one dose. you've been trying every day to get your vaccine, haven't been able to? >> yeah, i applied for vaccine. i every day have to apply. but no space, no has like a vaccine. so many hospital i have to check in. they're totally booked. >> reporter: this lag in vaccinations here translates into a very real human toll. many here blame india's government for what they say are catastrophic failures across the entire health care system. after a strict lockdown kept numbers low during the first wave, prime minister modi was quick to declare victory. but with a predicted second wave on the horizon, critics accuse the government of not only failing to prepare for it but of

also tempting fate by encouraging mass gatherings, crowds of more than 15,000 people at religious ceremonies, cricket matches, and political rallies that are believed to have fueled the new catastrophe. >> we also brought our guards down. the first surge, we've been able to handle fairly well. and so we didn't expect this. we knew there would be a surge, but we never knew it would be so rapid, so massive. and the government was in a celebratory mode, claiming to have vanquished the virus. >> reporter: there are reports those critical of the government's response are being silenced, their social media accounts allegedly shut down. many people we spoke with were hesitant to speak about the government's response on camera. but it's the lingering smell and the dark cloud that continues to cover the city that will define the pandemic for this country. the grim sight of nonstop funeral pyres. these pyres are normally out by nightfall, but right now there's so much loss, they are

burning 24/7 throughout the night. >> hospital full. government and administration of delhi says you are quarantining in the home. but no facility in the home. they are crying and death at home. humanity is dying. >> reporter: the fires a constant reminder of the immense loss here. with one estimate predicting 1 milion indians could die from covid-19 by august. the need here is greater than ever. >> our thanks to maggie and the team. coming up, the reasons behind the new cdc guideline on behind the new cdc guideline on mask wearing. my plaque psoriasis... ...the itching ...the burning. the stinging. my skin was no longer mine. my psoriatic arthritis, made my joints stiff, swollen... painful. emerge tremfyant™.

with tremfya®, adults with moderate to severe plaque psoriasis... ...can uncover clearer skin and improve symptoms at 16 weeks. tremfya® is the only medication of its kind also approved for adults with active psoriatic arthritis. serious allergic reactions may occur. tremfya® may increase your risk of infections and lower your ability to fight them. tell your doctor if you have an infection or symptoms or if you had a vaccine or plan to. tremfya®. emerge tremfyant™. janssen can help you explore cost support options. start your day with secret. secret stops sweat 3x more than ordinary antiperspirants. tremfya®. emerge tremfyant™. the new provitamin b5 formula is gentle on skin. with secret, outlast anything! no sweat. secret when you skip the rinse with finish quantum, you save up to 20 gallons of water each time. finish quantum with activblu without pre-rinsingpower to s fodisheso join finish and skip the rinse to save our water.

we do it every night. like clockwork. do it! run your dishwasher with cascade platinum. and save water. did you know certified dishwashers... ...use less than four gallons per cycle, while a running sink uses that, every two minutes. so, do it with cascade. the surprising way to save water.

i am robert strickler. i've been involved in communications in the media for 45 years. i've been taking prevagen on a regular basis for at least eight years. for me, the greatest benefit over the years has been that prevagen seems to help me recall things and also think more clearly. and i enthusiastically recommend prevagen. it has helped me an awful lot. prevagen. healthier brain. better life.

♪ the united states reaching a new milestone in the pandemic. but the cdc today issuing a new mask and social distance guideline for fully vaccinated americans. to break down what hopefully may be a new normal, earlier this evening i spoke with abc news contributor dr. darian sutton. dr. darian sutton, thank you so much for joining us. first question, today the cdc announced that americans who are fully vaccinated don't have to wear a mask and don't need to social distance. what was your reaction when you heard the news? >> good evening, byron. i was actually really optimistic about this. i was waiting for this message to be given out because i was expecting it. numbers have gone down significantly in terms of

hospitalizations and deaths. right now we've got a good amount of people who are vaccinated, but of course we want to make sure we hone in on the message. you have to be vaccinated if you want to follow these rules and take off your mask in these instances. hopefully it encourages more people, especially young adults, to get vaccinated. >> i'm noticing your smile. you think this is a really good sign? >> i do, i do. i was having this discussion with my colleagues today, other emergency physicians who have been fighting this pandemic with me since the beginning of this pandemic. and we all feel as though this is a step in the right direction. as we are seeing the true effectiveness of these vaccines and how it is keeping people out of the hospital. >> why is the cdc making this announcement now? >> that's a great question. i think it's more of an announcement -- i want to belabor the point, that this is more of an option. if you are in a situation where you are around people who you don't know their vaccination status, or if you generally feel uncomfortable given the fact that we're still in an active pandemic, it is okay to leave your mask on. i encourage people to do it if

they feel instances or situations where they're just not sure. but i do think, given the rates of vaccination, this was more of a move to show people, look what life could be like in this new normal if we all participated. i think that's what the core message of today was. >> dr. wa legal 69, the cdc director, warned unexpected twists in the pandemic could require the cdc to once again change the guidance. should americans not be too quick to throw away their mask in this. >> absolutely. we have to have cautious optimism in this instance, because although numbers are low here in the united states, we know very well that is not the same story in other countries around the world as this pandemic is wreaking havoc in places like india, as viral variants and mutations continue to spread. it's important to acknowledge that although we can follow these rules now, we have to be cautious and really keep an eye out and have surveillance so that we can know if we have increasing rates, we may need to step back a little bit to protect people. >> as you know, there have been reports of breakthrough infections among vaccinated

people. a small number among the more than 117 million in the u.s. who are now fully vaccinated. should this be a concern for all, or are those just anomalies? >> it speaks to the point that vaccines, although they are proving to be very effective, nothing is 100%. and so what i'm seeing right now is that these breakthrough cases, although they are important to acknowledge, in the context of over 100 million people being vaccinated, they're still small and prove that the vaccine is effective. >> as an e.r. doctor who's been treating covid patients throughout this pandemic, what are you seeing in the e.r. now? >> it's incredible, to be honest with you. since the beginning of the rollout of these vaccines, we saw significant decreases in the amount of people coming to the hospital. right now it is relatively rare to see someone who has been fully vaccinated sick and in the emergency room. but the demographics are kind of changing and shifting to younger as the majority of those who are currently infected are under the age of 50. so although covid-19 is less in

terms of the amount of people who are requiring hospitalizations, the people who are needing treatment right now are younger and unvaccinated, which is more of the reason why we need to encourage young and healthy people to get vaccinated and to not take their chances. >> dr. sutton, always good to see you. thank you so much. we'll see you down the road. >> thank you. up next, the message from the cdc signaling a breath of fresh air. in our home, we trust dawn antibacterial. it cuts through tough grease with 50% less scrubbing... so our dishes get cleaner, faster. even better, dawn antibacterial removes 99% of bacteria from your hands. we're cleaning now more than ever. and that's why we trust dawn. dawn antibacterial. an easy way to clean your dishes... a smart way to wash your hands. enjoy the scents of orange and apple blossom. ♪ i've got nothing to eat. nothing. [crying]

hold on, i can do something. ♪turning nothing into something♪ ♪i turned nothing into something♪ it's amazing what you can do with nothing, and a little best foods. do you struggle with occasional nerve aches in your hands or feet? it's amazing what you can do with nothing, try nervivenerve relief from the world's #1 selling nerve care company. nervive contains alpha lipoic acid to relieve occasional nerve aches, weakness and discomfort. try nervivenerve relief. [♪] when you have diabetes, managing your blood sugar is crucial. try boost glucose control. the patented blend is clinically shown to help manage blood sugar levels. boost glucose control products contain high quality protein and key nutrients to support immune health. try boost. ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪

comfort in the extreme. ♪ the lincoln family of luxury suvs. when it's hot outside your car is like a sauna steaming up lingering odors. ♪ febreze car vent clips stop hot car stench with up to 30 days of freshness. get relief with febreze. is your family ready for an emergency? you can prepare by mapping out two ways to escape your home, creating a supply kit, and including your whole family in practice drills. for help creating an emergency plan, visit safetyactioncenter.pge.com

we made usaa insurance for members like martin. an air force veteran made of doing what's right, not what's easy. so when a hailstorm hit, usaa reached out before he could even inspect the damage. that's how you do it right. usaa insurance is made just the way martin's family needs it with hassle-free claims, he got paid before his neighbor even got started. because doing right by our members, that's what's right. usaa. what you're made of, we're made for. ♪ usaa ♪ a little preparation will make you and your family safer in an emergency. a week's worth of food and water, radio, flashlight, batteries and first aid kit are a good start

to learn more, visit safetyactioncenter.pge.com ♪ finally tonight, it's been a long time coming, but when word got out about the new cdc mask guidance, well, you can imagine all the smiles. >> i'm so excited. i've been waiting for this moment for so long. >> i've already planned a mask burning party. >> i think that's what everyone was waiting to hear. >> i feel good because i'm tired of these masks. >> i just want to go back to normal. >> from the senate floor to the rose garden, where in front of a now maskless press corps, president biden confirmed the good news.

>> you've earned the right to do something that earns are known for all around the world. greeting others with a smile. with a smile. horizon. that's "nightline" for this evening. you can catch our full episodes on hulu. we'll see you right back here, same time tomorrow. thanks for the company, america. good night. it's the memorial day sale on the new sleep number 360 smart bed. it's the most comfortable, dually-adjustable, foot-warming, temperature-balancing... proven quality night sleep we've ever made. and now, save $1,000 on the new sleep number 360 special edition smart bed, now $1,799. only for a limited time. this is a no-nonsense message from three. small business insurance usually doesn't cover