COVID in India: the deep-rooted issues behind the current crisis

Vageesh Jain, UCL

India finds itself in the throes of a humanitarian disaster. Until March 2021, case numbers were low in most parts of the country, leading many to think that the worst was over. Much like in Brazil though, jingoism, overconfidence and false reassurance from the political elite negated hard-won progress.

Mass gatherings have acted as state-sanctioned super-spreader events. More infectious variants and a sluggish uptake of vaccines are also fuelling the current surge. These are the triggers, but there are more deep-rooted issues at the heart of the current crisis.

India is an inherently high-risk country for an epidemic. The country holds 1.4 billion people, living in crowded areas with extensive community networks and limited facilities for sanitation, isolation and healthcare.

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India’s staggering COVID crisis could have been avoided. But the government dropped its guard too soon

AP

Pradeep Taneja, The University of Melbourne and Azad Singh Bali, Australian National University

India reported 314,000 new cases of COVID-19 on April 22, the highest-ever infection tally recorded by any country on a single day.

Many hospitals across the country are unable to cope with the unprecedented demand for life-saving necessities. Family members are scrambling to buy oxygen cylinders and medication for their loved ones in hospitals, often paying exorbitant prices in the black market.

Around the world, several countries such as the UK, Australia, New Zealand, Canada and Pakistan, have imposed new restrictions on travellers from India, including flight bans.

While many countries around the world have faced multiple waves of infections, what has led to this massive — and sudden — spike in India?




Read more:
As India’s COVID crisis worsens, leaders play the blame game while the poor suffer once again


 

Continua a leggere “India’s staggering COVID crisis could have been avoided. But the government dropped its guard too soon”

L’India affronta un’urgente carenza di ossigeno mentre i casi aumentano – Il Giappone entra nel terzo stato di emergenza

Fonte : Health Policy Watch

L’India ha registrato il più alto numero giornaliero di nuove infezioni al mondo per il secondo giorno consecutivo venerdì, mentre il Giappone prevede di imporre il suo terzo stato di emergenza, solo tre mesi prima dell’inizio delle Olimpiadi di Tokyo.

L’India sta attualmente affrontando la sua peggiore epidemia di SARS-CoV2 dall’inizio della pandemia, con oltre 330.000 nuovi casi registrati venerdì – più del triplo del precedente picco dell’India alla fine di settembre e superando il record statunitense di 300.669 nuovi casi l’8 gennaio 2021.

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India Faces Urgent Shortage Of Oxygen As Cases Soar – Japan Enters Third State of Emergency

LA PANDEMIA È UNA PORTA TRA QUESTO MONDO E IL PROSSIMO di Arundhati Roy

 

Arundhati Roy * (da Financial Times 2 aprile)

(Traduzione Alessandra Mecozzi)

Chi può usare il termine “diventato virale” ora senza rabbrividire un po ‘? Chi può più guardare nulla – una maniglia della porta, una scatola di cartone, un sacchetto di verdure – senza immaginarlo brulicante di quelle macchie invisibili, non morte, non viventi, punteggiate di ventose in attesa di fissarsi ai nostri polmoni?

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