Jun 1, 20217 min read

India Crisis

Written By: Ananya Sankar

During this time India is experiencing their worst yet to come of covid cases as it's taking a toll on their country.

Coronavirus

India is taking a turn for the worst as their covid cases are shooting skyward. The cases started rising in February as they reported an average of about 10,000 infections a day. So as a result, it extended out to March and finally reach out to April and May where India is going through the world's worst coronavirus crisis. At the end of April situation progressively worsened because Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government is facing criticism for allowing large crowds to gather for their festivals and election rallies in a widespread part of the country. A sudden lockdown goes early in the pandemic in multiple states as millions of people scrambling back to their home villages disrupting their activities in the second populated country.

This second wave of coronavirus has no plans of slowing down as they ending the month by setting may with new global records for daily cases. Accordingly, India sees more than 403,000 Covid-19 total deaths and nearly 50 million total cases by June 11 this year as predicted. Moreover, the 15-day lockdown could bring the deaths lower to 300,000 but will see a total of fewer than 30 million cases since the pandemic started. That number falls further in case of a 21-day and 30-day lockdown. Making matters worse as India Covid cases are 46% worldwide as the World Health Organization (WHO) said in the weekly epidemiological report "5.7 million new cases were reported last week and more than 93,000 deaths. India reported nearly 2.6 million new cases, a 20% increase on the previous week, and 23,231 deaths". Therefore, on May 1 reporters predict more than 1 million deaths by the end of July. As IHME expects 674 million people to be vaccinated by August 1, 91,100 lives will be saved by vaccination.

Covid Aid's

Over the two weeks, many countries have reached out to help India battle the deathly Coranaviures that have consumed hundreds of lives. The Indian government right now is slowly distributed aid to hospitals across the country. Nevertheless, India is ramping up the covid testing because India is 11% vaccinated in their country. However, India is looking mainly for supplies that would help them in the severe shortage of basic medical supplies, like oxygen generators, oxygen cylinders, oxygen tankers for transport, and liquid oxygen. Likewise, they also have a shortage of oxygen which is urgent because where people are sick with Covid-19, many people are in trouble with breathing, and the most important treatment is oxygen. Furthermore "Oxygen is a critical resource because Covid-19 can inflame the lungs and sometimes fill them with fluid, making it hard to breathe. Even asymptomatic people with Covid-19 can have signs of lung infections in X-rays and CT scans that may contribute to a sudden worsening of symptoms." Next, officials were warned about a fungal infection that was reported that Covid-19 patients can end up with disfigure facial features and even get killed, as the country continues with this covid outbreak.

A person like many more in need of oxygen

People attended one of the India's largest hospital

India Natural/Human Disaster

As a result, bodies in India were found in many rivers, included one of the holiest rivers, the Ganges. The reason is from one of the state governments said there are many reasons but they think it because many people are in a real-life crisis from poverty and fear of the disease in villages. However, on May 14 a senior state official, Manoj Kumar Singh, said "The administration has information that bodies of those who have succumbed to COVID-19 or any other disease are being thrown into rivers instead of being disposed of as per proper rituals, as a result, bodies have been recovered from rivers in many places". Furthermore, another reason for this problem is because India has a "lack of funds for materials such as firewood for cremation for religious beliefs in some communities, and families abandoning victims for fear of the disease were among the likely reasons for the surge in dumping". Therefore, Hundreds of corpses have been found in the river or buried in the sand of the riverbanks. Moreover, Those who live close to where they have lived got to see their bodies as rain stared pouring exposing the cloth coverings of bodies buried in shallow sand graves. So to solve the problem Manoj Kumar Singh urges the village officials to ensure that there should be no corpses thrown into the water and said the state government would pay people who do not have money to undergo the ceremony 5,000 rupees ($68) each to cremate or bury the bodies of the dead. Moving on on May 18 a Cyclone named Tauktae hit across northwestern India including off the coast of Mumbai. So, the death toll just increases by 75 deaths as the storm damaged five states in western India stretching from Kerala in the far southern part of the country to Gujarat in the Northwest. The cyclone makes sure that no one would forget it with winds knocking over trees and power lines, and some areas were underwater due to the massive amount of rainfall and powerful storm surge. Therefore, rescue operations began as the Indian Navy search the choppy waters for victims of flat land that sank during the storm. Continuing, 84 people have been rescued as the rough seas have waves as high as 25 feet (7 m) with the navy searching for 55 missing crew members. Finally, another piece of land has been sunk which had 137 onboard but was successfully saved by the Indian Coast Guard.

India's States Trying To Survive

Each of the different states of India is suffering a lot from each experiencing it differently. The capital of India is one of the worst states in India that is experiencing covid-19. For example, the capital broke records with 24,235 cases with a slight rate of 32.82 percent. The death toll stood at 395, the highest of the date in Delhi in a day. Making sure that 15,772 people have officially died of Covid in Delhi. This was the eighth day in a row that Delhi recorded over 300 deaths due to the disease. Thus with a heavy heart, they buried the bodies of their loved ones using final rites on the funeral ground. Accordingly, a hospital in the city of Meerut is experiencing many patients feeling helpless as their not enough room as, "People are everywhere -- on stretchers, on tables, on the floor -- moaning and desperate for oxygen. There are about 55 beds for 100 patients, according to hospital staff. There are just five doctors. Some patients lie on the floor". However, the worst is yet to come with having only a little oxygen in a critical time, even though other countries are trying to help India keeps getting worse. Furthermore, hospitals are still struggling to help, as some require help so they try to get help by tweeted SOS messages, tagging official accounts as they plead for more oxygen to help patients who need air. Therefore, Poonam Goyal, a senior doctor at Panchsheel Hospital in Delhi's north said"We have now told patients before admitting them that they may have to get their own oxygen supply in case of emergency if they are admitted here". Subsequently, family members of patients queue for hours outside oxygen refilling centers, holding empty oxygen cylinders trying to save their loved ones without getting caught with coronavirus.

A map of India detail with the India's states

Prime Minister Narendra Modi

Prime Minister of India, Narendra Modi is experienced many backlashes in several situations. One of the reasons is making crowds appear without any health measures like holding huge election rallies and not canceling a Hindu religious festival that drew millions to the banks of the Ganges River, despite pleas from health experts. As Modi has come unprepared for the second wave of coronavirus, making the number one focus vaccinations. Accordingly, the cases are shooting skyward as they have recorded 200,000 coronavirus cases a day, but now it keeps increase as now it's 379,000 as it keeps are going as the highest in April was 401,993 and the highest in May is 414,188. Making matters worse on April 17, Modi appeared jubilant. “Everywhere I look, as far as I can see, there are crowds,” he said, his arms spread wide. “You have done an extraordinary thing.” In reality, it was a bad thing to do because there should be no crowds because that's how covid spreads. Additionally, Last March, he made a strict nationwide lockdown take place, with four hour's notice at a time when the country had recorded a lot of coronavirus cases. However, the economy is suffering as more than 100 million people lost their jobs. Thus, millions of migrant workers began leaving Indian cities on foot to return to their home villages. Malaysia’s daily Covid-19 infections are now per million people — on a seven-day rolling basis — have exceeded that of India since Sunday. Wherefore, on the bright side, the lockdown gave India some time to testing and other capacities to fight the pandemic. In fact, Infections are started in the fall as restrictions were put at ease across the country but now this early this year the matter remains unclear. In addition, it is really surprised that Narendra Modi is received backlash because he is really popular as his approval rating hitting 80% earlier this year. However, Ashutosh Varshney said, “Modi’s image will depend on how the mass suffering is interpreted, and whether he can successfully deploy his skills at narrative shifting, but I think he will have to pay a price.” And generally speaking, people agree with that because many people are losing their loved ones due to a lack of hospital beds, oxygen, ventilators, and vital medicines across the country, and without any money to supply them, as the healthcare system pushed to the brink of collapse without any help, so for the, for the most part, tough questions are being asked for the first time about Modi’s competence and leadership. Nevertheless, India has great news as of May 10 the corona cases started going down.