April ‘hell’ in India

Mr. Zarir Udwadia, a Mumbai doctor and researcher of tuberculosis, likens the Indian scene to being ‘hell’ in recent times, following the strong spread of the pandemic.
Since the outbreak of the pandemic up to now, Mr. Udwadia’s happiest time was 8am January 20. Stepping into the Covid-19 clinic in a Mumbai hospital, he begins his day with a very familiar habit: Wear protective gear.

“Then, the nurse in charge told me that that day India did not have a new hospital stay due to Covid-19. A surge of relief,” said Mr. Udwadia. Financial Times . Indian people and hospitals struggled because of Covid-19. Photo: Reuters. The joy is short-lived After 245 days of continuously fighting the epidemic, that moment brought rare happiness to Mr. Udwadia. He and his colleagues smiled with relief that across India, the number of new cases per day had fallen below 15,000. This encouraging sign also corresponds to the declining Covid-19 observed at the hospital at that time. But the joy is short: Summer welcomes India with a terrible April. The worrying numbers are constantly inching up. On April 26, India set a global record with 352,991 new cases within 24 hours. “On the hospital beds, the scene seems to have been cut from the ‘Hell’ part of poet Dante’s Divine Song,” Udwadia said. With the meager source of oxygen, long lines of patients fought for life with death. Meanwhile, echoing in space are calls for help. The patient’s expectation seems hopeless amid the indifference of the medical staff, who are also strained by the great pressure of the mission to save lives. In the warehouse, oxygen gradually runs out, while many essential pharmaceuticals are in short supply. Even patients in hospitals will not be able to hold out for long once the oxygen supply is depleted. In the black markets, oxygen cylinders are for sale for $ 670, eight times the usual level. Even so, the patients still buy in stock, preparing for the worst possible scenario. India struggled in the second wave of infections. Photo: Reuters. Mistakes All positive signs disappear after three months. In January, the Indian Minister of Health proudly declared: “India has stabilized the Covid chart”. This confidence cannot help India obscure a painful reality: The corona virus is besieging a country of 1.4 billion people. Instead of capitalizing on that precious time in January to ramp up vaccine deployment, secure oxygen supplies and tighten social gaps, India has allowed more localities to campaign for elections and 3, 5 million followers crowded along the banks of the Ganges River during the Kumbh Mela festival. “The virus is forgotten because we declare ourselves the winners,” Udwadia said. Then, as a matter of course, the second Covid-19 wave hit like a fierce tidal wave, making its own impact in 2020 just like a ripple of water. Many believe this wave is caused by the Indian variant B.1.617. This variant has two frightening mutations, the E484Q and the L452R. The lethality of the new variant causes nations to race to close their borders with India. The corona virus pushed the nation of billions of people into turmoil. Photo: Reuters. “As a doctor, I guarantee that the virus appears to be more contagious, has more serious fatalities and affects young people more often than before,” Udwadia said. Currently, patients between the ages of 26 and 44 account for about 40% of cases and nearly 10% of deaths in India. Meanwhile, the story of the vaccine still has its own questions. Instead of calling for 1.7 billion doses of vaccine stockpiling from trusted manufacturers, India has left it all for its “vaccine superpower” label. Early miscalculation now gives way to despair. Waiting for vaccinations crowded in Mumbai had only received an answer that most of the distribution sites were out of stock. Given the current situation (about 5% of India’s population is vaccinated), the coveted prospect of public immunity (when 70% of the population has viral antigens) will take at least another 700 days to be successful. realistic. ‘I lost my wife and children on the same day because of Covid-19’ Most hospitals in India are overcrowded, relatives miserable begging for beds and oxygen cylinders for patients. The furnaces were incinerated, many trucks carrying corpses lined up in long queues.