The pandemic “tsunami” of the past months hit and nearly collapsed India’s public health system on a large scale, in the period from mid-April to early June. In this context, thanks to careful preparation and sound resource investment strategy, southern Indian states like Tamil Nadu suffered less severe damage than other regions, according to the report. Financial Times . Prepare early for the bad scenario Jacob John, a doctor at a medical school in the city of Vellore, said the number of patients treated at the hospital where he worked at one time reached “uncontrollable thresholds”. At that time, the hospital’s 900 beds were filled, causing the facility to refuse to accept more patients and nearly drain its reserve of breathing air for treatment. But when a catastrophic second wave of disease hit Tamil Nadu and other southern states, places like Vellore were able to withstand the worst Covid-19 tragedy. The ability of these states to fight the epidemic is largely due to the planned and effective investment in the public health care system in the southern states. A woman has her blood pressure checked before getting a Covid-19 vaccine in Tamil Nadu, India. Photo: PTI. Experts say that in many other parts of India, the lack of investment and reconstruction for the public health system was exposed when the Covid-19 tsunami swept through. Tamil Nadu is recording about 22,000 coronavirus cases and nearly 500 deaths every day. Under that pressure, Tamil Nadu officials still managed to push back the wave of the epidemic. “The current situation is very difficult. We do not have enough intensive care beds and are forced to refuse to accept many patients,” said Dr. John. “I’m not saying we’re perfect, but when the wave is over, I’m sure the investments in the public health system will save lives.” Before the second Covid-19 storm made landfall, healthcare systems in many other parts of the country, including the capital New Delhi and Uttar Pradesh, India’s most populous state, were nearly completely collapsed. whole. Many patients die from lack of oxygen while the crematorium is overloaded, causing some families to choose to let their bodies float in the river. New Delhi fell before the pandemic, the number of deaths increased sharply, overloading the crematoriums. Photo: Reuters. Although the southern states of India have also “tasteed” the Covid-19 tragedy, experts say that these localities are resilient to cope with the recent outbreak of the disease. “Thanks to a well-developed healthcare infrastructure, the situation in the southern states is not as shocking as in many other places,” said Ratan Jalan, founder of Medium Healthcare Consulting. India’s southern states account for about 250 million of the country’s nearly 1.4 billion population. Kerala and Tamil Nadu are leaders in healthcare, with indicators such as infant mortality rates consistently low. Except for the state of Karnataka, other parts of South India have abundant medical supplies and many medical colleges. The Sustainable Development Report released by the United Nations and government think tanks in early June also ranks the southern states as having the best public health care systems in India. Authorities in these states also issued a blockade order in May. The strategy helped reduce the number of new Covid-19 cases, temporarily controlling the spread of the pathogen. However, Bangalore, the capital of Karnataka and India’s tech hub, still has a higher number of SARS-CoV-2 infections than other major cities. According to Ravi Mehta, an emergency worker at Apollo Hospital in Bangalore, when the hospital set up a new treatment ward at the end of April, all 30 beds were empty in just 90 minutes. When the treatment area was replenished with 70 beds, it was completely empty in less than 3 hours. Although the pressure has now eased, the hospital’s intensive care unit is still full, and is now used to treat patients with serious complications. Resource disparity States like Maharashtra in western India are also highly rated for their ability to respond to the Covid-19 “tsunami”. However, no state in the west really fights the epidemic as effectively as in the south, according to Financial Times . Kerala, where India’s first Covid-19 case was detected in 2020, is a rare state in the west with many bright spots in disease response. During the first wave of the Covid-19 epidemic, Kerala health officials controlled the spread of the disease and brought the number of corona virus infections to zero in a few days in May 2020. The number of Covid-19 cases in Kerala increased to more than 40,000 cases per day in May, but quickly dropped to the threshold of 20,000 cases per day, according to the report. Financial Times . Experts say the authorities of Kerala and Tamil Nadu have tackled the crisis by building networks of healthcare workers to help sick people find treatment. They have also created strategic systems to distribute resources such as oxygen and oxygen tanks, preventing severe shortages. The high number of infections in the southern states of India and at the same time reflect widespread testing, provide a full picture of the epidemic situation. Medical staff in Kerala, India take samples to test for Covid-19. Photo: Indian Express. On the other hand, the fact that the southern states better control the epidemic also exposes the inequality between rich and poor in the world’s No. 2 epidemic center. In May, at least 20 patients at a hospital in rural Karnataka died from lack of oxygen. In Goa, the southern tourist hub, many patients died from inadequate breathing air. PV Ramesh, a doctor and former senior civil servant in Andhra Pradesh, a state in southeastern India, said the Covid-19 crisis will force the whole country to acknowledge the failure of the medical system. public economy of this country. “This outbreak is still seen as an oxygen supply crisis rather than a management crisis (by health officials), Mr. Ramesh said. “As the wave of disease subsides, people will return to normalcy,” Ramesh said. went back to business as usual and didn’t learn any lessons.” Bringing the ashes of unclaimed Covid-19 victims to the Ganges River Indian volunteers collect ashes from crematoriums to organize funerals for Covid-19 victims in Haridwar city.

On April 12, three million Indians gathered on the banks of the Ganges River. They gathered in the ancient city of Haridwar, in the state of Uttarakhand, to take a dip in the sacred river. Devoted and full of Hindu devotees crowded the streets. The Naga Sadhus, the “saints” of the Hindu ascetic practice, pose for a photo on the banks of the Ganges. Photo: AFP. This is one of the holiest days of the Kumbh Mela festival. This festival is one of the most important occasions for Hindus, attracting millions of pilgrims every year. On the same day, India recorded 169,000 new Covid-19 cases and surpassed Brazil to become the second hardest-hit country by the pandemic, according to Guardian . Ignore danger In the weeks before that, a second deadly wave of Covid-19 swept across the whole of India. However, calls to cancel the festival were rejected. By April 15, more than 2,000 festivalgoers had tested positive for the virus. As of the end of the festival on April 28, more than 9 million people have soaked in the water of the Ganges River. The actual number of Kumbh Mela participants is yet to be announced. Millions of pilgrims return home without being tested or quarantined. Several states have begun belated efforts to trace and isolate returnees from Kumbh Mela. In Madhya Pradesh, 789 pilgrims have been placed in quarantine. Of those, 118 tested positive. The Naga Sandhus attend a procession on the banks of the Ganges. Photo: Reuters. T Jacob John, former head of virology at the Indian Council of Medical Research, said: “The pilgrims in the states carry with them mutated strains of the virus and spread the disease everywhere.” . Ashish Jha, dean of the School of Public Health at Brown University, said that Kumbh Mela could be “the largest super-contagious event in the history of the Covid-19 pandemic”. Devotees attend night prayers on the banks of the Ganges River at the Kumbh Mela festival, April 13. Photo: Reuters. During the festival period, the state of Uttarakhand recorded a 1,800% increase in the number of virus positive cases. Most of the infections are related to the Kumbh Mela festival. No one escapes Covid-19 Thakur Puran Singh, a senior member of the BJP, does not believe he has contracted Covid-19 at Kumbh Mela. At dawn on April 9, he and his family drove nearly 600 km to Haridwar to attend the Kumbh Mela. Over the next five days, his family took several dips in the Ganges River. On April 16, a day after returning home, Mr. Singh started showing symptoms of Covid-19. At first, he refused to believe that he had Covid-19. However, on April 21, his condition worsened. When he was taken to a local hospital, doctors suspected he had Covid-19 because his lungs had been damaged. His son did not believe him and took him to another hospital that he considered more reputable. Thakur Puran Singh and family participate in Kumbh Mela festival. Photo: The Guardian. “I couldn’t believe the doctors and their diagnosis. I didn’t even wear a mask when I took my dad to the hospital,” said Dinesh Singh Thakur. However, Mr. Singh died en route. Eight days later, his brother, Balwant Singh, also died with symptoms of Covid-19. “Even after Mr Singh’s death, the family kept a secret that they had come to Kumbh Mela,” said Dr. Shameema, regional medical director. After returning, they also participated in four weddings. Dr Iqbal Malik, another health official, confirmed that four members of Mr Singh’s family have tested positive. More than two dozen other people who were in close contact with Singh’s family members also had similar results. Mr. Singh’s body was cremated according to the procedures of the victim who died from Covid-19. However, his family still does not believe that he died from the virus. “There are 11 people in my family, why is it that only my father is gone? My father’s death was not due to Covid-19. Fate has called him,” Thakur said. Regret Gopal Singh’s family and neighbors were touched to see him return to his hometown from Kumbh Mela. The people of Madhi Chaubisa village came out to greet him and hoped for blessings. Contrary to the joy of the villagers, he was still terrified. Singh joined about 100 others from the surrounding villages on a sacred pilgrimage to Kumbh Mela. On the way home, he saw everyone falling ill. Many passengers said they had high fever and diarrhea. However, their vehicle did not stop at any of the Covid-19 testing sites. Devotees await the Naga Sadhus at the Kumbh Mela festival. Photo: AP. “I have been to Kumbh Mela twice before but I have never seen anything like this. A lot of people have been infected,” he said. Mr Singh insisted on being tested for Covid-19 despite a local doctor dismissing his concerns. Four days later, as expected, he was positive for SARS-CoV-2. Before that, he had contact with many people in the village. Three other people traveling with Mr Singh also tested positive. Ragu Raj Dangi, head of the village, said: “After everyone returned from Kumbh Mela, the number of people with Covid-19 has increased to more than 30 cases in just a few days. There are still a lot of other people who have symptoms but haven’t been tested.” A few days later, Mamta Bhai, Mr. Singh’s neighbour, developed a fever. She was treated by a local doctor. Although she was later taken to the intensive care unit, she still did not survive. Singh feels guilty: “Stubbornness and ignorance pushed us into a disaster. I feel terrible. Because of fanatics like me, other people get the virus.” Mr. Pragyaanant Giri, a Hindu monk, also went to Kumbh Mela. Like many at the monastery, he believes Covid-19 is a conspiracy. After a month of attending the festival, Mr. Giri developed symptoms of a sore throat and high fever. His companions advised him to rest. The police officer asks a person to leave after taking a dip in the water of the Ganges. Photo: Reuters. After that, his condition worsened. After two weeks of intensive care, Mr. Giri passed away. Despite the rules for patients dying from Covid-19, his body was buried at the monastery. People in the monastery said: “More than 10 people who came into contact with Mr Giri have developed Covid-19 symptoms and some have been hospitalized. However, most members of the monastery are not tested.” Even after Giri’s death, the belief that Covid-19 is not real still pervades the monastery. Swami Harigiri, the head of the monastery, thinks this is a plot against the Hindus. “We drink cow urine. Covid-19 will not affect us. Giri’s death caused by Covid-19 is fake news,” he said. In a small village in the eastern Indian state of Bihar, a group of five women came to the festival on an 11-day trip. After returning, two people died. Although the local health department announced the victims had tested negative for Covid-19, family members told a different story. Awadh Kishore Tiwari, grandson of Bindu Devi, one of the two dead women, said: “She fell ill the day she returned home. The very next day she was gone forever. My mother also tested positive after coming into contact with her.” Ms Devi’s brother-in-law, Awadhesh Chauhan, said he advised her not to attend the Kumbh Mela because of Covid-19. However, she laughed off: “Nothing will happen to me, don’t worry”. Bringing the ashes of unclaimed Covid-19 victims to the Ganges River Indian volunteers collect ashes from crematoriums to organize funerals for Covid-19 victims in Haridwar city.

The caste system, the division of rich and poor, the dowry custom, the cremation custom in India, the horrible unsanitary life on the Ganges River were shared by the female writer in her travel book “Lonely on Everest”. “. On the occasion of the Covid-19 earthquake raging violently in India, writer Di Li shared his experiences about this country on his personal Facebook page. VietNamNet would like to introduce to readers: Writer Di Li visits the Victoria Museum in Kolkata, India (photo: Di Li) Criticizing poor and dirty India: a half perspective The number of deaths from Covid in India has reached 4,529 cases / day (an incomplete number), the highest in the world since the beginning of the epidemic season until now. Indians have the custom of cremation, so if people die too much, they will break branches in the park and burn their bodies on the sidewalk, poor people can’t buy firewood and can’t steal branches from the park. then stealthily carry the body of a relative to the door of the funeral home, throw it, then abandon the body and run for someone else, or more simply, let the body be thrown into the Ganges River to float. The virus in the body just mixes with the river water and then drifts downstream wherever it goes, whoever it sticks to next, while the water of the Ganges River still travels throughout Asia. I have been to India 4 times (March 18 last year was canceled because of India’s blockade due to Covid-19, not 5 times). Trot has already changed money, so there is still a pile of rupees in the drawer. Because India is a passion, a destination that I can fly to several dozen times in my life. In short, every time I make a fuss, I buy a ticket to India. Many people think that India is dirty and poor, Indians are ugly, Indian boys are fierce, India is backward, India is uncivilized… but only half of it has been seen. In New Delhi, there are many greener, cleaner, more beautiful places than Europe, with great buildings dating back many centuries. India is the world’s second silicon valley and is set to overtake the US in computing software capacity. The place that produces the most movies is Bollywood, not Hollywood. The countries that own the most Miss Universe in the world, in addition to a few South American countries, there is also India. India has many beautiful people, because they are multi-racial. The young man covered in a scarf who looks like a football star is a tuk tuk driver in the village in Jaipur – photo taken in 2013 (photo: Di Li) For example, two young men I met and took random pictures in Jaipur. The young man with a scarf who looks like a soccer star is a tuk tuk driver in the village (I only took portraits because if I scrolled down… he was wearing ripped pants). The Indian guy with dark glasses that I (Di Li) took with me was a street vendor, making the whole crew bewildered because he looked like a Hollywood actor” -(photo: Di Li) The guy with the dark glasses I took with him was a street vendor, making our whole group bewildered because he looked like a Hollywood actor. He offered to buy goods, I stood dumbfounded because he asked in turn in English, French, German, Italian to see if I knew what language I could speak, so I would communicate in that language. Indian men are actually the gentlest of the countries I’ve been to, and even the salesmen are often humble and poor. Even scolded did not dare to react. In Vietnam, if you scold, you will be beaten back. I used to travel across North India and a few times to New Delhi, traveling all by myself but still safe, and not being watched by anyone as people say. India is one of the world’s earliest philosophies, the cradle of culture, architecture and art, one of which is Buddha. The world’s richest people and the world’s best playboys are also concentrated in India. In 2018, the daughter of tycoon Mukesh Ambani got married (Ambani is the richest person in Asia and the fourth in the world with a fortune of 40 billion USD, even surpassing Bill Gates in one year), the money for mosaic wedding invitations alone. encrusted, calculated in Vietnamese currency has cost hundreds of billion. The price of extremism But unfortunately, India is an extreme country, in this place it seems that there are only two concepts. Either very nice or very ugly. Either extremely gentle and shy, or extremely aggressive and perverted. Either very clean or extremely dirty. Either extremely intellectual or illiterate. Either so rich or so poor that they can’t afford firewood for cremation. Either extremely civilized or extremely backward (so much so that now many villages still maintain the custom of widows burning themselves with their husbands). Either extreme meditation, peaceful mind and body (the birthplace of Yoga), or extreme lust (also the birthplace of Kama Sutra). The landscape is extremely cold (the Himalayas) and extremely hot (the Great Indian desert). The food is either amazing (just brought to the mouth, must be spit out) or extremely delicious. India has the most luxurious hotels in the world for guests to stay there as ecstatic as the land of ecstasy and there are also slums that are considered as hell on earth. All this polarization is due to the five caste system that has persisted in India from BC until now. If someone is dirty, ugly, poor, illiterate, or ignorant, their descendants will be passed down for hundreds of generations. But it’s very rare like other countries that from a shoe shine boy to become a billionaire, from the son of an illiterate mother who can become a scientist, from a hired dishwasher to become a beauty queen, from unacknowledged adopted son to deputy prime minister. In India, the monks and nuns sweep banyan leaves, and there are rare cases of jumping from one caste to another. Most of the time, trying to come up, they were drowned so they couldn’t open their eyes. So the tourism slogan given by India itself is as true as they claim to be “Incredible India”. Covid-19 when it came to India it was also weird according to this country, it mutated and increased virulence, and of course it excluded the rich. Because the rich, they take a private plane to the Maldives or Dubai to stay in a 6-star resort to avoid illness, when the epidemic is over, they will return. They sunbathe, shop for diamonds, drink cocktails under the stars at night and post pictures on Facebook. If you are poor, you will suffer everywhere, whether East or West, whether Buddhist or Christian, feudal or modern, hierarchical society or democratic equality. When something happens in the country, war, coup, epidemic, economic crisis, natural disaster, climate change, the poor receive enough. They are the most vulnerable in society. And India has many poor people. No matter how high GDP is, it is only in the hands of the billionaire elite. On the 7th of last year, I was still in India. At that time, seeing the news at home, they rushed to buy masks but sold out, so the last day the group went to the market not to buy any gifts but just bought a bunch of masks to bring back. The Indians found that very strange, shrugging their shoulders in surprise because at that time there were no cases in India. But at that time I said: If Covid-19 spread to India, the whole country will be infected, the number of cases will lead the world. The poet Nguyet Vu who accompanied me later kept saying that my words were… prophetic. Poor thing, it’s not a prophecy, India is always full of people every day, it looks like a Zombie movie, it’s strange that it’s not infected. The world keeps scolding India for not locking down. But they couldn’t do that. Thousands of Indians still bathe in the Ganges River in Haridwar during the Kumbh Mela festival despite the Covid-19 epidemic Firstly, India has many of the world’s leading religious festivals. People die right next to them how they do not know, but still several tens of thousands of Indians bathe together during the religious festival of Kumbh Mela. No one wants to wear a mask. They poured water on them from the Ganges River, then buried their faces in the viscous cow dung and told the gods to help them. They would rather die from Covid-19 but definitely refuse to give up their pilgrimage. The Prime Minister also cannot ban the festival because the power of the Brahmin priests here is supreme (Is the first of the 5 castes). Called the king’s magic to lose to the village rules. Our festivals also gather as many people as in India, but the Party and Government ask people to stay at home right away, and the whole country listens. Countries that have prided themselves on long-standing democracies can’t do that. Because the people above told them not to listen, people also scolded for more, not to mention asking people to declare and trace Covid-19. In the epidemic situation, this is called the other side of democracy. Mr. Ram Vriksha Gaur, one of the directors of the popular TV series “8-year-old bride” went bankrupt due to the epidemic, had to sell vegetables and fruits. Second, India’s poverty rate is very high. If the blockade, it is likely that the number of people starving to death is higher than dying from Covid-19. For example, Ram Vriksha Gaur, one of the directors of “8-Year-Old Bride”. The epidemic made him bankrupt, so he had to drive a car to sell vegetables. It is not surprising that the Indian variant of Covid will spread to the whole world, especially Africa. At that time, it was normal for middle-class people to go bankrupt. So if you guys go away for a holiday, don’t wear a mask during the trip, come home and hide from the declaration, then carry your body around and go out in contact with other people, then only the poor will hurt the most. Because if the epidemic breaks out, the poor will not be able to sell baskets of vegetables and fruits. According to media reports, if vaccinated diligently, it will also take India … 10 years to fully vaccinate more than 1 billion of their people. The story of India makes me see nothing too optimistic about the current Covid-19 situation. Because the first logic is that only when the vaccine is given enough around the world, travel between countries will be completely free. As long as there is still a country with Covid-19, it will spread back and forth, even adding new strains for which a vaccine will not solve the problem. The second logic is that the land border between countries (except for the island countries) is often open for hundreds of kilometers, the whole field is not empty, so it is normal to spread each other. Now India, the Philippines, Indonesia, and Malaysia are considered defeated. Soon it will be Nepal’s turn to fall, a country with a high population density, poor health care, poor sanitation and unfortunately shares a very long border with India. If anything happens, the outcome could be even worse than India, because they are much poorer than India, traffic is no different from Indiana Jones movies, it is difficult to get aid and supplies. This is really heartbreaking because these are the two countries that I love the most.

Two weeks ago, just as dawn broke over the Ganges, a riverside resident discovered several bodies drifting into the shallows of the river most sacred to Indians. Darsan Nishad – a 35-year-old man working for a local environmental program – pulled the eight bodies out of the water. He then tied these bodies with sacks to take them away to check the cause of death. Finally, the unfortunate victims will be cremated – according to Hindu rites. “We don’t know where these bodies come from. We didn’t even know if they had any diseases,” said Nishad, pointing to the area where he and his colleagues had to carry out this difficult task. Hindus make offerings to the sacred Ganges River after scattering the ashes of their loved ones. Hundreds of bodies were found floating or buried in the river in May. Photo: Washington Post. Saddened by the experience, Nishad shared his belief in the Ganges, which Hindus revere as a sacred river. According to Hindu beliefs, anyone who has bathed in the river will be cleansed of all sins. “The river has great spiritual significance to us. Indians believe that if you dip yourself in this water even once, you will be protected for life,” said Nishad, standing a few feet from the crematorium in the river. “For us, the river is the goddess,” said Nishad. This is just a small number of hundreds of other bodies floating or buried in sand along the length of the river in the context that India suffered the second worst consequences in the world because of the Covid-19 pandemic. after America. Worried fisherman The mystery surrounding the bodies remains unanswered. Authorities have not been able to find out how many people have Covid-19 among those bodies. Many believe that some families have opted for extreme measures – dropping the bodies of loved ones in the Ganges – because they cannot afford to cremate them. Before the second wave of Covid-19 “swallowed” India, the cremation rite cost only 70 USD. However, the number has now risen to more than $400 – almost six times higher – since the end of April. In Sujabad – a large community that depends on the Ganges for a living – many people are currently without work. The Covid-19 pandemic has caused the loss of jobs for river boaters carrying pilgrims and tourists. With bodies constantly dropping into the river causing pollution, local fishermen are worried about their catch and fish stocks being affected. For many people, the source of fish on the sacred river has been a way of life for a long time. The Indian crematorium burns day and night. Photo: New York Times. According to people here, the most prosperous business at this time is providing wood for the crematorium. As of May 23, India recorded more than 26.2 million cases of Covid-19 and more than 295,000 deaths. The number of new infections per day in India has recently decreased, but the average number of deaths in the past 7 days has remained high, above 4,000 people per day. The “tsunami” of Covid-19 has put the Indian economy on the brink of collapse. Like the bodies found in the Ganges – whether they died from coronavirus, heart attacks or old age – residents of communities like Sujabad are falling victim to this virus. Government gets involved Images of floating bodies prompted authorities to step in. Patrol ships are deployed across more than 2,400 kilometers of the Ganges River. State and local governments have established a network of free cremation sites – providing firewood and inviting priests to perform Masses for families who cannot afford it. Hundreds of such crematoriums have been opened across Varanasi, the holy city on the banks of the Ganges in Uttar Pradesh state, and home to a series of steps leading down to the Ganges (called ghats). Usually, Hindus will gather in large numbers at ghats to bathe, baptize their children and scatter the ashes of the dead. However, now the ghats are uninhabited, while the crematoriums operate continuously day and night. In downtown Varanasi, officials have set up a Covid-19 “command center”. Here, thousands of staff will take calls from residents, check on patients, order ambulances for those in need of hospitalization and arrange cremation services. A large screen hung on the wall continuously displays the latest information on the number of hospital beds, oxygen supply and the number of new infections. Government employees patrol the Ganges River. Photo: Washington Post. Share with Washington Post , cleric Satindra Kumar in Varanasi could not hide his fatigue after long days of performing funeral rites. “I have performed the funeral rite 15 times in the past two days, most of the dead are patients with corona virus. People who don’t die from the disease also come here,” Kumar said. “The pandemic is so devastating! Everyone is afraid and suffering. I cannot stop what is happening, but I will continue to pray. I hope that will bring peace to the relatives of the deceased.” Even the poor still have to celebrate However, in rural areas, there is no similar service for the family of someone who has died of Covid-19 or other causes. Despite the extra cost, many people still make trips to the ghats to pray for their loved ones in accordance with Hindu custom. They believe that even with the added economic burden on their shoulders, they still have to bear to follow the ancestral traditions. Journalist of Washington Post witnessed a group of peasants reach out to one of Varanasi’s oldest ghats to perform funerals for three loved ones. Cremation platforms along the riverside. Photo: Getty. They prepare offerings consisting of pellets and spices, wrapped in large leaves under the supervision of a Hindu priest. After the bodies of three loved ones were blessed, the men stepped off the ghats, floated their offerings in the river, and began scattering the ashes. After that, besides the cremation fee, the group also had to pay the ceremony money for the ceremony just now. They anxiously counted every penny they had accumulated, plus the costs of barbers, photographers and gifts. They do not hesitate to pay expensive expenses to fulfill their religious obligations at a time of uncertainty, fear of an invisible and deadly force. “For generations, villagers have come here to perform the last rites of life,” said Lakshmi Singh, a farmer in his 60s. Bringing the ashes of unclaimed Covid-19 victims to the Ganges River Indian volunteers collect ashes from crematoriums to organize funerals for Covid-19 victims in Haridwar city.

Before Covid-19 appeared, the Ganges River was once “flooded with corpses”. In 1918, when an influenza pandemic swept through India and killed an estimated 18 million people, the river’s waters filled with the smell of rotting corpses. This creepy scene is making a comeback because of a pandemic. The official death toll in India is reported to be more than 250,000, but experts say the real number is five times higher, according to Guardians. These bodies began to wash up on the banks of the sacred river, becoming a haunting symbol for the uncounted Covid-19 deaths. According to the Economist , these images also reveal the picture of Indian society with poor people struggling to cope with the pandemic and make a living. Relatives and relatives carry the body of a person who died of Covid-19 to be buried on the banks of the Ganges River. Photo: Shutterstock. No one sells firewood to cremate relatives On May 19, India continued to set a new record for the number of deaths in a day due to Covid-19: 4,529 people. This is the highest number of daily Covid-19 deaths of any country ever, surpassing the previous record in the US with 4,475 deaths in a day. To date, India has recorded more than 25 million cases and 275,000 deaths from Covid-19. However, there are no official statistics on the number of bodies discovered in the past two weeks in the open stretch of the Ganges that flows through the poor rural states of Uttar Pradesh and Bihar, or buried in shallow sandy graves along the riverbanks. in Uttar Pradesh. Through statistics, locals and journalists here put the number of more than 2,000 bodies. In the village of Gahmar in Uttar Pradesh, 15-year-old Raju Chaudhry, who works on a fishing boat, said he had recently seen “about 50 bodies being washed away every day, for many days”. There is no way to know if these people have Covid-19 or not, although Indian authorities have acknowledged some of the bodies as those who died from the pandemic. According to official figures released by the government, the death and infection rate of Covid-19 in Gahmar village is low. But Bhupendra Upadhyay, a priest here, said a lot of people have died in the past few weeks. Earthen vases hang from a banyan tree by the Ganges River in the village of Gahmar, each representing a person who has just died. Photo: Guardian. “I saw 30 to 35 bodies being brought into the river recently and drowned here. Many people drop dead bodies in the river because they have difficulty arranging cremation, because there are so many dead people,” he said. Upadhyay pointed to the trunk of the banyan tree where he was sitting. On the trunk, dozens of earthen pots are tied up. “Each of those vases represents a deceased person. Let’s see how many, just from the last 10 days,” he said. In the case of Shambhu Nath, his family had no difficulty in cremation, as villagers helped and attended the funeral. But after the second brother in the family died of Covid-19, they found themselves abandoned by their neighbors. “When we tried to buy firewood for our cremation, we were chased away. No one in the village could help us with the cremation because they suspected we had Covid-19. We couldn’t get the wood and didn’t know what else to do. , so we had to drown his body in the river. We did it at 11am the next morning, and only a close family came to offer condolences,” he said. What do corpses in the Ganges reveal? Sheet Economist An assessment of India’s covid-19 crisis, with images of corpses floating in the Ganges, reveals two things. One is the scale of the tragedy sweeping across the vast territory of India. In remote rural areas, far from city clinics, people are not being tested for Covid-19. Therefore, no cases or deaths were recorded. The officially published death toll is now a fraction of the true number. Economist identify. The second thing that the bodies in the Ganges reveal is that this wave of Covid-19 is ravaging the lives of the poor, who are already struggling to make ends meet. The poor are losing their jobs, starving to eat and falling victim to scams. Jammu and Kashmir State Disaster Response Force soldiers carry empty coffins to transport the bodies of people who died of Covid-19 on May 19. Photo: AP. “People borrow money to pay for medicines, or oxygen tanks, or pay extra fees for ambulance drivers because they have to carry Covid-19 patients. So they can’t afford to pay for cremation or funeral. ceremony,” Utpal Pathak, a local journalist, told Economist. After the first wave of Covid-19 swept through India in 2020, many local newspapers and research institutes tried to calculate the economic impact of the pandemic on the poor. Pew Research Institute estimates that as of January 2020, only 4.3% of Indians earn less than $2. A year later, that number had increased to 9.7%, or 134 million people. In-depth research by Azim Premji University in Bangalore shows that after the 2020 nationwide lockdown, about 230 million Indians slipped below the poverty line, which is set based on the minimum wage (about $45 a month). ). The university researchers also found that during the lockdown, 90% of the poor consumed less food. Six months later, their diets still haven’t returned to normal. In the past year, the income of Indian workers, including the lucky 10% who have a salaried job, has fallen by a third, according to the report. Economist. Shocked by the terrible impact of the pandemic and the blockade order in 2020, this year, the central government of India let the state and local governments to impose the blockade order on their own based on the actual situation. “Although the economy has not yet come to a complete standstill, the scale of this outbreak still leaves many families devastated.” Economist write. A worker helps cremate a body on the banks of the Ganges River. Photo: Getty. For many people, the biggest shock is the loss of family breadwinners. The Indian railway company has 1.2 million employees, but Covid-19 killed 1,952 employees here. In April, the state of Uttar Pradesh dispatched 1.2 million civil servants to work on local elections and counting votes. Report of Economist said this election was the cause of the large-scale outbreak. It is estimated that about 2,000 of the aforementioned civil servants died afterward, including 800 teachers. Each of those deaths cost their families weeks of grief and expensive treatment. Not to mention each person who died could have infected and made 20 others seriously ill. “In a normal year, one in 20 families is pushed into poverty due to high medical costs. What has happened in the last two months is understandable. Millions of wonderful Indian families Hope was forced to sell gold, pawn or borrow money. Economist write. In times of poverty, people are vulnerable to a variety of scams, such as healthcare workers demanding bribes to secure hospital admissions, purchasing counterfeit drugs, or even in some states, painted scams. on fire extinguishers to sell as oxygen tanks. Health Minister Harsh Vardhan, who has been promoting an herbal “cure” for Covid-19, last week advised Indians to eat more dark chocolate with “more than 70% cocoa” to beat the stress of the pandemic. . Bringing the ashes of unclaimed Covid-19 victims to the Ganges River Indian volunteers collect ashes from crematoriums to organize funerals for Covid-19 victims in Haridwar city.

Unlike city people who know how to use social networks, Basi villagers cannot go to Twitter to call for help from strangers. Basi village in Uttar Pradesh state. The state has more than 75% of its people living in rural areas, according to the most recent 2011 census of India. “Most of the people who died in the village were due to not being given oxygen in time,” said Sanjeev Kumar, the newly elected village chief. Mr. Kumar said the seriously ill had to travel four hours to get to the nearest hospital, but many died on the way. Village chief Sanjeev Kumar on May 10 holds portraits of recently deceased Covid-19 patients in Basi village, Uttar Pradesh state. Photo: Bloomberg. What happened in Basi village is a common image of rural India at the moment. Through interviews with representatives from more than 18 towns and villages across India, the scale of the crisis gradually emerged. According to the Indian Ministry of Health, the country has more than 25 million cases of Covid-19 and 274,390 deaths since the beginning of the pandemic. But many believe that the scale of the crisis is significantly larger than the official figure, given that many villagers are sick but afraid to leave their homes, and the death toll from Covid-19 is not fully recorded. General image of rural India After the recent Basi village chief election, many election workers contracted coronavirus, including Kumarsain Nain, 59, and his 31-year-old son. When Nain had trouble breathing and had to go to the hospital, his family couldn’t find an ambulance with an oxygen ventilator, according to Praveen Kumar, another son of Nain. “When we got to the hospital, the doctor said my father had passed away. But instead of recording the cause of death as Covid-19, they just recorded cardiac arrest,” Kumar said. “The doctor said there is no need to check if my father is positive for Covid-19 because he is already dead.” Not long after, in another clinic, Kumar’s brother also died at the same time as six other patients. All 7 people were on ventilators at the time before they died. “I suspect that the hospital ran out of oxygen which led to death,” Kumar said. An outdoor cremation ground along the banks of the Yamuna River, a tributary of the Ganges, in Garh village, Uttar Pradesh state on May 4. Photo: Bloomberg. Reply Bloomberg On May 18, Mr. Baijayant Panda, a senior official in the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party, defended the government’s response. He pointed out that the electoral body is the one who decides to hold the vote, and that the state governments are responsible for building the oxygen plants. These facilities receive federal funding. “In early January, the general view was that India passed the strongest wave of corona virus infections. Many epidemiologists are voicing criticism right now, in fact the people who said in October 2020 that the worst is over, so there’s no need to put a lot of restrictions,” Panda said. In the state of Bihar, where nearly 90 percent of the population lives in the countryside, residents last week found 70 bodies floating in the Ganges. Because the crematorium is overcrowded, people are concerned that they cannot afford the funeral expenses, so they have to “send” the bodies of their relatives in the Ganges River. To this day, people still find bodies pushed ashore by the current. A similar scenario is seen in the state of Madhya Pradesh, where 72 percent of the population lives in rural areas, according to 2011 figures. “There are no hospital beds or medicines. People just lay there waiting to die. In the city of Ujjain and surrounding areas, in the past two weeks there have been several cases where the whole family has not survived,” said Rajesh Sharma, owner of a travel agency in Ujjain, Madhya Pradesh state. “Unprecedented scale of crisis” In the state of Punjab, local authorities called on volunteers to knock on doors for health checks and urged people to get vaccinated. These medical volunteers (ASHA) have to work in difficult conditions to immunize children and provide first aid to the villages. But according to Balbir, an ASHA from Ludhiana district, Punjab, the scale of the crisis is unprecedented. The fields in Basi village were abandoned because many of the labor force fell ill. Photo: Bloomberg. “Many people are scared so they don’t tell anyone about their fever. Despite the outbreak of the disease, they still haven’t given us adequate protective gear: no masks, no gloves or anything,” Balbir said. The state of Uttarakhand, where nearly 70% of the population lives in rural areas, has also suffered a severe blow from Covid-19. The number of infections in Uttarakhand increased 20-fold after welcoming more than 9 million visitors to the Kumbh Mela ceremony on March 31-24. “There is not a single family in Rishikesh, Uttarakhand state without a sick person. Haridwar, in the same state of Uttarakhand, is in a similar situation,” said Navin Mohan, who helps arrange trips to holy towns on the banks of the Ganges. “The pandemic really got out of control. Thousands of people have died and will die in the coming weeks,” Mohan said.

To date, India has recorded more than 25 million cases and 275,000 deaths from Covid-19. However, many experts say the real number could be many times higher. On the riverbanks, many cremation pylons burned around the clock, many cremation sites had no space left. This phenomenon partly reflects the unprecedented number of deaths and has not been updated in official data. According to the BBC , behind the bodies floating in the river is a story of customs, poverty and a deadly pandemic. Many cremation pylons burn around the clock in India. Photo: Getty. Frighten The horrifying story in the state of Uttar Pradesh first came to light on May 10. The opening was the event of 71 bodies washed up on the riverbank in the village of Chausa in Bihar. Officials said some of the remains may have been leftover body parts that fell into the Ganges after cremations, but they suspect the bodies were dumped in the river. The police put a net across the water to prevent the same thing from happening. A day later, about 10 kilometers from Chausa, dogs and crows were seen swarming with dozens of decomposing bodies on the banks of a river in the village of Gahmar, in the Pradesh Ghazipur region of Uttar state. Locals said the body had been washed up on the embankment for several days. However, the authorities ignored their complaints about the stench until news of the corpses found downstream of Bihar made the news. Dozens of bodies swell and decompose, floating in the river. They were discovered by people when they went for a morning dip in India’s holiest river. Sheet Hindustan Police reported that 62 bodies had been recovered. Meanwhile, in Kannauj, Kanpur, Unnao and Prayagraj, the riverbanks are dotted with shallow graves. Shallow graves by the Ganges River. Photo: Getty. Videos sent to BBC from the banks of the Mehndi ghat in Kannauj shows a series of mounds in the shape of human corpses. Each of these mounds contained a body. At the nearby Mahadevi ghat, at least 50 bodies were found. Crematorium is overloaded Traditionally, Hindus will cremate the dead. However, many communities have a practice known as “Jal Pravah” – the practice of floating the bodies of children, unmarried women, or those who have died of an infectious disease or been bitten by a snake. Many poor people do not have money to cremate their loved ones, so they also wrap their bodies in white cotton cloth and drop them into the water. Sometimes bodies are tied to rocks to ensure they will sink to the bottom of the river, but many bodies are floated without the stones tied. In the time before the pandemic, corpses floating in the Ganges were not an uncommon sight. However, the number of bodies in the river is too much in recent times, still surprising many people. A journalist in Kanpur said the number of bodies in the river was proof of the “big disparity between the official death toll and the actual death toll related to Covid-19” in India. He said that from April 16 to May 5, the official reported number was 196 deaths in Kanpur, but data from seven crematoriums showed there were nearly 8,000 cremations. “All electric crematoriums are open 24/7 in April. Even so, there are still not enough furnaces to cremate bodies, so the government has allowed the use of wood on the outside grounds for cremation,” he said. to speak. “However, crematoriums only accept confirmed Covid-19 bodies from the hospital, while a very large number of people who died at home have not been tested. Families of the dead bring the bodies of their loved ones out. on the outskirts of the city or to neighboring districts like Unnao. When they can’t find wood or a place to cremate, they drop the bodies on the riverbed.” Cremation platforms along the riverside. Photo: Getty. Another journalist in Prayagraj also believes that many of the bodies in the river are those of Covid-19 patients who died at home without being tested, or poor people who can’t afford cremation. “It’s heartbreaking,” he said. “These people are someone’s son, daughter, brother, sister, father or mother. They deserve to be respected when they die. But their deaths are not even recorded – no one knows they died or is known. How to be buried? Burial from 7 a.m. to 11 p.m The discovery of graves and decomposing bodies, along with fears that the bodies could have contracted Covid-19 have sparked panic in villages along the river. Originating in the Himalayas, the Ganges is one of the largest rivers in the world. Hindus consider this river a sacred river, they believe that bathing in the Ganges will wash away sins and use this river water for religious ceremonies. In Kannauj, Jagmohan Tiwari, a 63-year-old resident, reported seeing “150-200 shallow graves” by the river. “The burial took place from 7 a.m. to 11 p.m.,” he said. The discovery of the graves caused panic in the area. People worry that bodies buried on the ground will start to float in the river when it rains and the water level rises. On May 12, the state government banned the practice of “Jal Pravah” and provided support for poor families who could not afford cremation. Relatives of a victim stand near the riverbank while the body is cremated. Photo: Getty. In many places, the police used sticks to retrieve the body from the river and called on the boatman to bring the body to the shore. After being retrieved, the decomposed bodies are buried in pits or burned on a cremation pyre. Ghazipur district judge Mangala Prasad Singh said teams had been set up, patrolling the riverbanks and cremation grounds to prevent people from dumping bodies in rivers or burying them on the banks. Bringing the ashes of unclaimed Covid-19 victims to the Ganges River Indian volunteers collect ashes from crematoriums to organize funerals for Covid-19 victims in Haridwar city.

But also in the media, it is seen that every morning, hundreds of Indians in the midst of the pandemic go to bathe in the Ganges River. No masks. No spacing. They hardly know or need to know what a Pandemic is… Peaceful Ganges! That’s the real India! Peaceful India is a country of religion! The etymology of the sacred Ganges is “Ganga”, the embodiment of the goddess Ganga – the daughter of the Himalayas – the guardian deity – the great mother of the country. Legend has it that in order to save the people from the severe drought, the god Sihva pulled a river from the sky above the heavens to flow through his hair for thousands of years and then poured down to earth. In the Vedas, there are also the most solemn words praising the Ganges River, which has the function of dissolving all sins and cleansing all impurities. According to Hindu beliefs – the majority of the Indian continent, bathing in the Ganges River means that all sins are washed away. If you drink river water before you die, it is a good omen for both the living and those who return to heaven. Many Hindus also ask to be cremated on the banks of the Ganges and then scatter the ashes into the river. Throughout history, since the legend, every morning, at dawn, tens of thousands of Indians flock to the banks of the Ganges River to bathe, meet, share, and chat. For them it is a great gift of life, so no power can take it away, not even the scary but invisible COVID virus… In the symbol of humanity, “water” which symbolizes the purification of desire directs people to the bright and benevolent domain. Because it is a flow, “river” is a symbol of renewal and rebirth. Moreover, it is also a symbol of purity (because of being purified) and an instrument of liberation. But with Indian culture, the holy Ganges River has a higher symbolic meaning than “giving prosperity and blessed salvation”. Therefore, those who bathe in the Ganges river will be “transmitted purity into their hearts” by the goddess. Most Hindus certainly believe so! The Ganges River becomes the patron god of the life and people of India, the mother river that flows cultural flows into the body of Indian society. Where there is lack of spiritual water from that spiritual flow, that place is not India! The most primitive legend tells that the goddess Ganga was always standing on a sea monster, which was her means of transportation. Her holy face was both stern, tolerant, kind, and holy. Her figure shows a symbol of strength, nobility, courage. She always wears a crown to reveal her high, pure, bright forehead. She always wears a necklace low down to her bountiful breasts symbolizing her ability to bestow prosperity… This legend is the fulcrum for two immortal epics, “Ramayana” and “Mahabharata”, the most massive ancient epics in the world. The “Mahabharata” alone is 7 times the length of the “Iliad” and “Odyssey” combined. A Battle on the banks of the Ganges in “Ramayana”! It can be affirmed that the structure of the massive “Mahabharata” epic is the structure of the great Ganges river flow because the river is like an artistic symbol expressing the spiritual life of the main characters, who govern and direct the people. as a spiritual leader. The opening part of the epic tells about the origin of genealogies with the main core being that the Vasus family sinned against the Taoist Vasita, so they were reincarnated into the world as the children of the goddess Ganges and King Santanu. As soon as they were born, they were thrown into the river by their mother (goddess) to free them from the Taoist spell. This is a great and constant archetype so that everyone wants to bathe in the Ganges River in the future with the desire to wash away sins. The motif of bathing in the sea and sacred river water becomes a common symbol for human culture talking about renewal and rebirth. God of Fire in Greek mythology was a naughty, hyperactive boy who once provoked Dot, so he was thrown into the sea, unfortunately, he fell on an island and lost his leg. Since then, the Fire god has been limping (flashing like fire!). In Egyptian mythology, Prince Morann, son of the king of Cairpe, was born a mute monster and was thrown into the sea. Fortunately, the sea water broke the monster mask so that later the prince became a great judge… But among those episodes, the meaning of bathing in the Ganges river is the most enduring, followed by many people. Best. And maybe forever as long as there is the Ganges! When epic wars occurred, the Ganges River served as a witness to history. Only in the space of the Ganges can the characters “enlighten” the truth and morality as well as the principles of Indian spiritual life, of the Indian spirit of peace and selflessness. Sacred water helps them return to their human roots to neutralize hatred. In front of the Ganges, the sinner will realize his sin and repent… There is an event that no one will miss when reading “Mahabharata” when the villain Aswatthama fled to the banks of the Ganges with the most cruel revenge of killing the Pandava family’s grandson still in the womb. but this action was nullified by the god Krishna. Then the whole Pandava family forgave him… It turned out that the Ganges had sanctified people. Since then forgiveness has become an Indian character, an Indian spirituality. At the end of the war, despite the victory, there is no victory song, because the war is destruction anyway, on both sides. King Yudhisthira triumphantly ascended the throne, but there were no grand festivals. Just a ritual sacrifice: “The king went to the Ganges River and according to the traditional custom of offering sacrifices to pray for the souls of the deceased to rest.” It should be said more clearly that the king prayed for all the dead souls, both on this side, on the other side, regardless. This detail shows more clearly the human meaning of the king’s enthronement without the corresponding ritual. It’s an Indian identity! And yet, King Yudhisthira is also depicted when standing in front of the Ganges River, he is like standing in front of a sacred, sacred and extremely mysterious cathedral, and then the mood rises with torment about what he has caused suffering to people. other. He repented. He judges and punishes himself. He became a symbol of endurance and patience… This symbol entered Indian culture and became a living and action maxim: “Patience is the highest virtue!”, “Tolerance is fame, endurance is glory!”. The Indian cosmology is also: “All things operate according to the principle of endurance!”. So we understand the modern Indian revolution based on the principle of non-violence! Because the moral concepts of endurance and patience have become the spiritual foundation of Indian society! In the epic “Ramayana” the characters always pray and bow to the Ganges. The character always considers the river a fulcrum of strength, a moral fulcrum for action. It is a creed as constant in each character. Legend has it that King Xagara sent sixty thousand sons to find the lost sacrificial horse. Those sons traveled all over the world, finally finding the horse near Kapila. They immediately thought that He was a thief. Enraged, the god Kapila burned all the children of King Xagara. The king’s grandson, Angxumana, received advice: “You must make offerings to the sacred water of Ganga. Okay, then the ashes of these sixty thousand people will go to heaven.” Indeed, when offering water to the Ganges River, the souls of the dead are liberated to the high land of bliss. Legend is deeply ingrained, imprinted in the Indian mind: When you die, you will be cremated on the banks of the Ganges River is a happiness! Tradition must always be in sync with the present for people to enter civilization. To hold on to tradition is to be conservative. The whole world is making the best efforts to prevent the epidemic … but in India it is not yet. That’s the lesson: A traditional gem in the light of modern science will shine even brighter!

Even more sad is that those endless tragedies still have no end. These stories will appear more and more, as the Covid-19 pandemic begins to spread from big cities to rural India, where the health system is much worse than the urban areas. The picture is full of contrasts The Indian capital New Delhi recorded nearly 12,500 new Covid-19 cases on May 12 – just half of the number recorded here on April 30. Another somewhat positive sign is that the positive rate of tests has dropped to 19%, from a peak of 36% a few weeks earlier. A farmers market in Mumbai on May 11. Photo: Reuters. A similar positive situation is recorded in Mumbai – India’s most populous city. The positive rate of the test here dropped to 7%, below the 10% recommended by WHO. That partly shows that the two largest cities of India are gradually controlling the epidemic. However, if looking at the whole picture, the picture of the Covid-19 pandemic does not seem to have too many bright spots. Dark spots are appearing more and more, especially in rural India. This leads to a conundrum: If New Delhi, which has good health infrastructure and many good hospitals, struggles to contain the pandemic, how can rural areas where the system much weaker health care – can withstand the wave of epidemics. And the answer came pretty quickly. When the source of oxygen is exhausted On May 11, Sri Venkateswara Ramnarain Ruia Hospital in Andhra Pradesh state ran out of oxygen supply, while more than 60 patients were in critical condition. 11 patients later died. In anger, relatives of these people stormed into the intensive care unit, knocking over tables and chairs and smashing equipment. Television images showed several people clutching their heads in grief, while doctors and nurses fled for fear of assault. A Covid-19 patient is being cared for at a public hospital in the state of Uttar Pradesh. Photo: Reuters. Andhra Pradesh, like many other southern states, is facing severe oxygen shortages. Statistics of an Indian newspaper show that oxygen depletion has taken place in 20 hospitals, leading to the deaths of more than 200 patients. In the past, the southern states of India have agreed to share oxygen with each other. Now, some states want to end the cooperation. The southern state of Tamil Nadu refused to share oxygen with the neighboring state of Andhra Pradesh, where the tragedy took place that left 11 people dead. The state of Kerala also refused to share oxygen because of the state’s high demand for oxygen, as the test positive rate in the state increased to 27% from 8% in early April. “Many people have died without treatment,” commented Rijo M. John, a health economist in Kerala. Behind the bodies in the river People in Bihar, a northern Indian state, could not help but be shocked when they discovered dozens of bodies, suspected of being Covid-19 victims, washed up on the banks of the Ganges River on May 10. “I have never seen so many corpses,” said Arun Kumar Srivastava, a local doctor. He also said that “there will certainly be more deaths”, as many people carry bodies on their shoulders. A family member of a Covid-19 patient is grieving after hearing the news of a loved one’s death. Photo: Reuters. Officials said the bodies were dropped by ambulance drivers from a bridge, and denied that the bodies were floated by relatives due to lack of burial conditions. Krishna Dutt Mishra, an ambulance driver in Bihar, said that many people had to drop the bodies of loved ones in the river because the cremation price was too high. According to him, during the second Covid-19 wave, the price of cremation has increased from 2,000 rupees (about 27 USD) to 15,000 rupees (200 USD). This is a huge sum of money for many Indian families, and as a result, cremating a loved one becomes an impossibility for them. “I drove all the way from Buxar to Chausa. I’ve never seen dead bodies in the river, let alone seen dozens, or hundreds of bodies,” Mr. Mishra said. Bringing the ashes of unclaimed Covid-19 victims to the Ganges River Indian volunteers collect ashes from crematoriums to organize funerals for Covid-19 victims in Haridwar city.

The banks of the Ganges River in the city of Garhmukteshwar, Uttar Pradesh state (India’s most populous state) became a place to cremate the bodies of people who died of COVID-19. Photo: AFP/GETTY IMAGES The epidemic is spreading rapidly to the countryside After four consecutive days of recording the number of infections above 400,000 / day, the last two days the number of daily infections in India has fallen below this level. Many government health officials and experts predict this second wave of epidemics in India will peak around the end of this week. However, it seems that the epidemic crisis in India is moving to a more dangerous new phase. The danger is that the virus is now spreading rapidly to rural areas, according to the CIDRAP Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy at the University of Minnesota. In the article in the newspaper New York Times Journalist Jeffrey Gettleman, head of this newspaper’s office in the capital New Delhi, also said that the infection and death from COVID-19 that broke out in big cities a few weeks ago is now spreading very quickly to rural areas. village. New Delhi recorded nearly 12,500 infections on May 11, less than half of the number recorded on April 30. Hospitals in New Delhi are now accepting patients again, after having to stop accepting them because of overcrowding last month, leaving infected people to die on the streets. Mumbai also recorded the same. The danger is that the number of infections in New Delhi and Mumbai will probably stop increasing and decrease gradually, but in many other places will increase. In other words, the situation of New Delhi a few weeks ago now extends to almost the entire country. Some of the worst-affected states are in the south, especially Karnataka. I cannot imagine what would happen in rural India. Expert RIJO M. JOHN worried about the prospect of the COVID-19 epidemic overflowing into the countryside How will it be? This fact raises a terrifying question: If New Delhi, a rich metropolis with dozens of hospitals, is unable to handle the current wave of high cases, what will happen once this wave spreads to the country? poor rural areas? The answer seems to be gradually becoming clear. On the evening of May 10, a leading hospital in the southern state of Andhra Pradesh ran out of medical oxygen. More than 60 critically ill patients wear breathing tubes but no oxygen. The doctors worked frantically, but 11 patients did not survive that night. In a distraught over the loss of a loved one, family members stormed into the hospital and smashed it. Doctors and nurses had to flee until the police arrived. It can be clearly seen that the hospital overload, lack of oxygen, medicine … very serious even in large urban areas will be more alarming in rural states, according to the radio. CNN . Chogath farming village in the western state of Gujarat has a population of 7,400, but there are 500-600 infections, the number of people who have not survived is very high because the whole village does not have a doctor. Nearby towns have several medical centers, but these small facilities have run out of beds and medical facilities. Dinesh Makwana drove his father, who was severely infected with COVID-19, through four medical centers in neighboring towns, but had to return home, because these centers had run out of beds. Usually about 30 people die in this village every year, but in the past month alone, villagers have had to cremate 90 bodies, according to Mr. Girjashankar. Many families have lost a lot of loved ones to COVID-19. Girjashankar, 70, still volunteered to go up the hill to cut firewood to help cremate the dead. Many southern states such as Kerala and Tamil Nadu have made it clear that they will not share the medical oxygen they have with each other, having to keep it to serve hospitals that are overloaded because the number of patients is growing too fast in their states. Medical aid goods from other countries have started pouring into India since the end of April, but it is still not enough compared to the reality of the shortage in this country. Currently, in addition to urban areas suffering from severe epidemics, Prime Minister Narenda Modi’s government also spends some oxygen and medicine to urgently distribute to the states. However, with this little common ground, remote and isolated localities such as Chogath village (Gujarat state) still have to rely on their own strength.• Drop the body Ganges River because there is no money for cremation Newspaper Indian Express On May 10, Indians discovered more than 40 bodies washed up on the banks of the Ganges River near Bihar and Uttar Pradesh states in the north. Some news channels say that the number of bodies floating in the Ganges must be in the hundreds. In India, there is a custom that when a family member dies, the relatives will tie a stone to the body and drop it into the Ganges River – a sacred river for Hindus. However, many officials and locals believe that these bodies are those who died from COVID-19. Many bodies were partially burned and locals explained that the bodies were not cremated or cremated incompletely due to a severe shortage of firewood. Another reason families choose to drop their loved ones’ bodies in the river is because they can’t stand the cost of cremation, many health workers told the newspaper. New York Times . Bihar and Uttar Pradesh are two of India’s poorest states and are home to about 370 million people. Doctors warn people not to use cow dung on their bodies in the belief that it will help their immune systems deal with the virus or help them recover faster if they get sick. Hindus believe cows are a symbol of life and cow dung or cow urine is therapeutic. However, according to doctors, not only is there no scientific evidence that this can defeat COVID-19 but can also bring many other disease risks.

During those 5 years, the young man observed plants and animals of many different regions, and one of which was especially important, was that he discovered sparrows in the Galapagos Islands and sparrows living in the Galapagos. deep in the continent, although similar, have evolved different biological characteristics to suit feeding in their particular habitat. Later, that guy wrote the book “On the Origin of Species” and introduced the theory of Evolution that shocked public opinion. That boy is Charles Darwin. There are 365 days in a year, and only one day is dedicated to Darwin. However, on the 200th anniversary of his birth, a poll was held and the results were that only 39% of Americans believed in the theory of evolution. At the same time, in England, home of the scientist, The Guardian reported that half of adults did not believe in Darwin’s theory and of those, 22% believed in God’s Genesis. Sole. Millions of Hindus have joined the festival on the Ganges River in recent days, causing an outbreak of the disease. In the Museum of Creation in Petersburg, Kentucky, there is a painting of Adam and Eve sharing a forest with a dinosaur 10,000 years ago, although we think dinosaurs went extinct 65 million years ago while humans are now New era appeared from 200,000 years ago is clear as day. The US and UK are the two leading countries in scientific research. I immediately thought of this story when I saw the pictures of the millions of Hindus in India celebrating the Kumbh Mela festival and then paying the price with the burning cities burning the dead. because of COVID-19. “The faith of the pilgrims will overcome the fear of the virus,” the state premier of Uttarakhand told the press ahead of the festival. Indeed, in just a few days, 3 million people jumped into the sacred Ganges River to bathe, the fear of a new virus that appeared more than a year ago that science warns is nothing compared to the power of the government. boss of the gods for thousands of years. Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government has also proposed to study the hypothesis that Ganges living water can cure COVID. Yet, just a short time ago, Hindu politicians criticized Muslims for holding large prayers in New Delhi. Actually, they are all the same. Why is there such a thing as unscientific in an age that is thought to be very unscientific? Don’t we often read articles complaining about people’s increasing dependence on technology, on phones, on tablets – and technology is a totem of modern science? Even so, the formula for writing innocuous articles in health care categories is “proven science”—the word “science” is so overused that it becomes inert. But, it seems, the dominance of science and technology is just a fragile outer shell that can always be broken. And people rely on science for the comfort and convenience that scientific discoveries bring, not necessarily for truths or facts about the world. To find out about this strange phenomenon, Professor Andrew Shtulman of the Department of Cognitive Sciences Occidental University devised a test as follows. He invited 150 students who had taken science and math classes to read a few hundred scientific conclusions and asked them to mark the correct ones. A rather surprising result was that it took them a little longer to check the box “Earth revolves around the Sun” than the box “The moon revolves around the Earth”. Both of the above conclusions are clearly correct, but if the Moon revolves around the Earth is something that we can easily perceive, then the Earth revolves around the Sun is something that goes against our common sense and is only possible. know through education. This implies that science’s way to awareness is always resisted by a force of instinctual belief. So, sympathize with the old theologians who thought Copernicus was a heretic, because even the well-educated, raised in a 21st-century environment with bright scientific lights If there is a flash of light on the top of your head, somewhere in your mind there are still remnants of the feeling that the Sun revolves around the Earth, also that the ancient people did not have an inch of tools at hand. Painting “A dinosaur in the garden of Eden”. In a similar test run by University of Maryland psychologist Kevin Dunbar, he also observed blood vessels pooling in the prefrontal cortex when participants validated claims they thought were false. naturally in science, this part of the cerebral cortex is responsible for controlling consciousness. According to Dunbar, this is evidence that the acceptance of some scientific knowledge is not actually about absorbing facts but about suppressing myths. The truth is often hard to swallow, and it holds true in many fields, and even more so in the history of scientific research. The great breakthroughs that completely changed the axis of our knowledge, from heliocentric theory to the theory of evolution, from relativity to quantum mechanics, almost all brought up uncomfortable truths and to With scientific achievements, humanity must abandon the abiding realm of intuition to jump into a crater of flesh-burning truths. But not just dance once. Scientific truth is different from religious truth. The basis of religious truth is certainty, and the basis of scientific truth is doubt. Karl Popper, philosopher of science said that “Truth and certainty must be clearly distinguished. Knowledge is the search for truth. Not a search for certainty.” Or in the words of Richard Feynman, the essence of science is “the hard work of proving you wrong”. No need to take great examples of how Einstein proved Newton wrong and how people question Einstein today, just talk about chocolate, sometimes scientists say that This is a dish that is harmful to health, another time they say it helps to beautify the skin and keep it in shape. Compared to betting on a change like the flash pan of science, to many people, in many matters, religion or intuition seem to be more stable and secure “horses”. Science always puts people in such insecurity. Nowhere is our “me” more vulnerable than in science, because we are always faced with the fact that we are wrong. What’s more, there are many different kinds of truths, and scientific facts are not always better than others. But, there are subjective truths that can push people into a dead end. Like prayer can conquer COVID. Like the Ganges that can wash away diseases. Or as climate change is an exaggeration of zealot scientists. Indeed, according to the survey, a quarter of the population of the US – the world’s closest high carbon emitter – considers climate change a negligible threat! But, even more surprising, in a study published in the journal Psychological Science by Matthew Feinberg and Robb Willer of UC Berkeley, most people when reading dire messages about climate change don’t want to believe it. This is because, that “inconvenient” truth threatens the need to see the world as an organized, stable, and just place where honest workers are rewarded and vandals. will be punished. Meanwhile, climate change creates an equal apocalypse for everyone, guilty or not. Yet, the world is such a cruel place, where the origin of man is nothing more than a divine being, but a fish with finfish, where the Earth is never the navel of the universe, where religious ritual cannot save people from the virus, where the environment is being destroyed irreversibly. And in general, as Carl Sagan, one of the most widely known astronomers to the public, once wrote: “Better hard truths, in my opinion, than consoling illusions.”