The second wave of COVID-19 surpasses India

A second wave of COVID-19 infections in India has completely overwhelmed the nation’s medical infrastructure as families demand despair of oxygen and other life-saving supplies on social media.

In the capital New Delhi, the morgue is being used mass incineration COVID threw the victims. In some hospitals, patients are waiting outside in ambulances because of the lack of ventilators inside.

Volunteers have also been strengthened to help with supply issues, among other things Caring for India, A community of more than 3,000 people who use social media to get oxygen and medicines from blood donors.

Mohd Saqib, a 23-year-old student who recently joined the organization, told BuzzFeed News that requests for help are increasing every day.

“We are getting lost every day with our Indian family,” Saqibe said. “When a person [makes a] we asked and after a while we found out that the same person is no more, this moment is the worst ”.

In one emergency meeting Led by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, officials agreed that the industry-targeted oxygen could meet immediate medical needs and provide a faster supply to the country’s transport networks.

Modik also called on states to take steps to collect potential supply.

India escaped the worst of COVID-19 in the first year of the pandemic. Although the nation ranks fourth in the world the official number of deaths in the worldBehind the US, Brazil and Mexico, the death rate was low at nearly 1.4 billion people. And when India joined in 2021, the disease seemed to be under control, with cases and deaths falling in September.

But since March, the nation has exploded with an explosive wave of infections, presumably caused by a new variant of coronavirus called B.1.617. The National Institute of Virology of India has reported that it has adopted this variant leader in transmissions, appears in about 61% of the cases tested in a province last week. It is sometimes called the “double mutant” variant because it has two mutations associated with increased contamination, its role in the appearance of India. it is not clear due to limited medical examination of the variants there.

Now about 1 in three cases of COVID-19 in the world are in India, and the rate of new infections is growing faster than in any other country. About 2,000 COVID-related deaths are also recorded every day, roughly one-sixth of all in the world. But one Financial Times analysis based on incineration records, it suggests that many of the people dying with COVID-19 in India are not counted in official statistics.

As his health system was on the verge of collapse, epidemiologist Giridhar R. Babu of the Public Health Foundation of India (PHFI) warned that “this will not be the last wave nor the last pandemic”.

In an interview local average, Babu said the current situation in India should be a global concern.

“If disease control is neglected in some parts of the world, all other parts are at risk of importing infections,” Babu said. “We need to look at the country’s COVID situation rigorously and thoroughly as we expand vaccine coverage.

“There should be strong public health leadership and resources to build resident systems, including strengthening COVID-19 epidemiological and genomic surveillance to detect outbreaks. not strengthening “.

The state of India has been partially accused by the government of criticism, including the PHFI president, accusing When the Modi administration claimed victory over the virus in advance, efforts to strengthen the country’s health infrastructure had to be thrown out.

Instead, it was announced by the Indian electoral authorities key elections in five states, the country’s cricket board shone green with a stadium full of spectators and for an international festival game. Kumbh mela he brought millions of Hindus to Haridwar for the holy occasion.

The escalation of the COVID-19 crisis in India is also very bad news for the global effort to vaccinate people against coronavirus. The Puna Serum Institute of India is the largest vaccine manufacturer in the world and was responsible for it making an initial dose of 200 million A version of the Oxford / AstraZeneca vaccine for COVAX, a collaboration between the WHO, the Coalition Epidemic Preparedness Innovation and the Gavi Vaccine Alliance, which aims to bring cheap vaccines to developing world nations.

But the spread of domestic vaccines in India has made it more difficult, only 1.4% of the population it is now fully embedded against COVID-19. At the end of March, India suspended vaccine exports AstraZeneca vaccine supplies to its vaccination unit.

It also has the Serum Institute of India has signed the agreement production of about one billion doses of the coronavirus vaccine developed by the US company Novavax upon approval. So using the nation’s vaccination capacity to boost its faltering program will put more pressure on the world. India he also argued that U.S. export controls on raw materials used to make vaccines will hinder the ability to meet global demand.

The US is also under pressure to deliver About 20 million doses unused AstraZeneca vaccines that the FDA does not yet need to authorize. AstraZeneca said it will be there soon 30 million US doses ready, despite the US he agreed to send 4 million doses in Canada and Mexico in March. Asked about the provision of these AstraZeneca shares, White House COVID-19 response coordinator Jeff Zients said Friday that the U.S. will “explore options” for sending excess vaccines abroad “as our confidence in our supply increases.” He pointed to President Joe Biden $ 4 billion commitment COVAX in February as an indicator of the country’s support for the global vaccine.

Meanwhile, the CDC is consulting with Indian health officials and providing technical assistance, said Anthony Fauci, head of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases.

“It’s a serious situation that we’re trying to help as much as we can,” he said. “Of course, they have to incorporate their people.”