India's Fast Descent Into the Covid Abyss - Bloomberg

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India’s descent into the Covid abyss 

India’s descent into the Covid-19 abyss was so fast that it almost feels like a thunderbolt strike. From reporting around 40,000 new infections in a day a month back, the South Asian nation crossed 330,000 new cases Friday. In between, it blew past records almost every day to emerge as the world’s fastest-growing outbreak, with more than 16 million cases.

Crematorium furnaces are melting after working non-stop. Still, bodies are piling up as deaths rose to a record. And some say even that’s an undercount. Social media platforms are flooded with pleas of help for everything from hospital beds, medicines, CT scans and doorstep Covid tests, to even food for the elderly in quarantine. Patients who manage to get a hospital bed must hope that their facility doesn’t run out of oxygen—a New Delhi-based hospital was forced to seek urgent court intervention late Wednesday night after hundreds of patients were put at risk due to “dangerously low” levels of oxygen supply.

While the Narendra Modi-led government is boosting vaccine production, oxygen supplies and creating more Covid wards (some even in railway coaches), state governments have had to resort to localized lockdowns. The sudden explosion in infections has chilled the nation’s mood in a sharp contrast to the relaxed vibe early this year when people were planning family holidays or going out shopping. After braving the world’s largest lockdown for weeks, Indians thought they had served their time. 

They were wrong.

Several funeral pyres seen burning simultaneously on the Gomti riverfront near Bhainsa Kund as cases rise.

Photographer: Hindustan Times/Hindustan Times

Many, including officials in the central government, put the onus on people for dropping their guard—and masks—for this deadlier second wave in India, but epidemiologists and genome-sequencing experts are also pointing to the possible role played by the double-mutant strain, B.1.617. This insidious variant, with two critical mutations, is suspected to transmit more easily and escape prior immunity gained by vaccination or a past infection.

There’s a New Virus Variant in India. How Worried Should We Be?

India’s health ministry hasn’t confirmed if this new variant is more transmissible or deadly, but its medical-research wing tweeted on April 21 that one of the approved vaccines, Covaxin, was effective in neutralizing it. India has also allowed all citizens above the age of 18 years to be vaccinated from May 1.

That would have been great news had there been an ample supply of vaccines. Especially since India is called the “pharmacy of the world” and is home to world’s largest vaccine manufacturer. But there's a shortage, with many states such as Maharashtra clamoring for more shots earlier this month. India approved Russia’s Sputnik on April 12 and a day later fast-tracked the approval process for other approved foreign vaccines.

Meanwhile, India is fast becoming the new pariah in a world scarred by the pandemic. While we weren't packing our passports for transnational trips anytime soon, it's alienating to hear of travel curbs imposed by Canada, New Zealand, Hong Kong, Singapore and Malaysia, among others. We get it, though. No country wants another wave.

The only thing worse than going into lockdown is having to do it twice. Bunkering down in our homes (again!) to survive the new wave has brought a sense of deja vu, but what is new this time is the fatigue. And that stretches from doctors, nurses to government officials and journalists.—Bhuma Shrivastava

Track the vaccines

With the U.S. vaccination rate topping 3 million a day and the European Union program accelerating, global vaccines should already have topped 1 billion doses administered. At the pace, it will still take three months to to cover 75% of the population and approach the level required for herd immunity.  Get the latest data here.
 

 

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India's Fast Descent Into the Covid Abyss - Bloomberg
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