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.

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.”

Concerns about the festival becoming a “super contagious event” have come true. People returning from Kumbh test positive for SARS-CoV-2 and can cause widespread spread. “Super infectious” festival When Mahant Shankar Das, an 80-year-old Hindu, arrived in the town of Haridwar on March 15 to participate in the festival, cases of Covid-19 increased in many parts of India. On April 4, just four days after the festival officially started, Mr. Mahant Das had a positive result for SARS-CoV-2 and was advised to isolate in a tent. But instead of quarantining himself, he packed up a train that traveled 1,000 kilometers to the city of Varanasi. Here, his son picked him up at the train station, both of them took a taxi to their village 20 km from the neighboring city of Mirzapur. More than 9 million Hindus made a pilgrimage to the town of Haridwar in April this year. Photo: BBC. Talking on the phone with the reporter BBC recently, Mahant Das said he is now “very healthy and happy” and has been on quarantine at home since his return. He insisted that he did not transmit the virus to anyone, but within a few days, his son and a few other villagers had developed Covid-19 symptoms. His son Pathak, who made a full recovery from Covid-19, said their village had seen “13 people die in the last two weeks from fever and cough”. Village Covid-19 cases may – or may not – involve Mahant Das, but medical experts consider his behavior irresponsible. By traveling on a crowded train and sharing a taxi, he was able to spread the virus to many people along the way. Epidemiologist Dr Lalit Kant said the “huge group of masked pilgrims sitting on the banks of the river singing about the glory of the Ganges” created an ideal environment for the virus to spread rapidly. “We already know that church and temple choral singing are super contagious events,” he said. At Haridwar, officials said 2,642 followers had tested positive, including dozens of top religious leaders. Photo: BBC. Akhilesh Yadav, former head of neighboring Uttar Pradesh state, former King Gyanendra Shah of Nepal and former Empress Komal Shah were among those who tested positive after returning home. Bollywood composer Shravan Rathod died in a Mumbai hospital shortly after returning from the Kumbh festival. A group of nine Hindu prophets also died. With growing fears that returnees from Kumbh could infect others, some state governments have ordered 14-day mandatory quarantine and warnings that would severely punish those who conceal. information about their trip. However, very few states have tourist databases and none have systems to check and track people entering and leaving the border. Over the past two weeks, reports of returnees from Kumbh with positive test results have come from all over India. Dr. Kant said: “It was devastating. These numbers are just the tip of the iceberg. Crowded groups of pilgrims riding trains and buses will increase the number of shifts exponentially. I can say without hesitation that the Kumbh Mela festival is one of the main reasons behind the outbreak in India. Why do disasters happen? Mr. Mahant Das was exasperated when asked whether to cancel the Kumbh festival at a time when India is seeing a spike in cases and hospitals refuse to accept patients due to lack of beds, medicine and oxygen. practice. “Why are we religious people accused of gathering wrong?”, He asked. The Kumbh festival is said to still take place out of concern about a reaction from Hindu religious leaders like Mahant Das. On April 12, the festival’s first big day – when more than 3 million devotees soak in the Ganges in hopes of achieving salvation – India has recorded more than 168,000 cases of new, surpassed Covid-19. via Brazil to become the country with the second highest number of cases globally. It was not until a week later that the size of the festival decreased, after the death of a chief monk. Measures to avoid Covid-19 are being stepped up. However, things have gone too far. Last week, event organizers said 9.1 million pilgrims had visited Haridwar. From the outset there were concerns that letting the Kumbh festival take place was fraught with risks. Health experts warned the Indian government in early March that “a new and more contagious strain of corona exists in the country” and that the gathering of millions of non-masked people join one. The festival is reckless. Former Uttarakhand state leader Trivendra Singh Rawat said that he planned to leave Kumbh as a “limited, iconic event” from the outset as experts told him the pandemic would not be soon. end. “The festival attracts not only Indians but also other countries. I was worried that healthy people would come to Haridwar and carry virus germs everywhere when they return,” he said. But just a few days before the festival, he was replaced by Tirath Singh Rawat, who famously said “With the help of Ma Ganga (Goddess of Ganges) in the flow, there will be no corona virus”. Hindus believe that immersing themselves in the waters of the Ganges will help wash away their sins. Photo: BBC. The new head of state said that “no one will be banned”, a negative Covid-19 certificate is not required to join and it is sufficient only to follow the safety rules. But as millions flocked to town, officials struggled to impose epidemic prevention rules. Haridwar state medical director, Dr. Shambhu Kumar Jha, said crowd management became “very difficult” because they could not force devotees who had made a long journey back. Recent reports have shown that the state of Uttarakhand recorded 557 cases between March 14 and 20, when the pilgrimage began. The number of infections increased rapidly thereafter, with 38,581 reported cases between April 25 and May 1 – the last week of the festival. Dr. Kant is pessimistic about the way ahead. “Someone said that devotees would treat the corona virus as prasad and spread it. It’s tragic that pilgrims have carried infectious diseases everywhere,” he said. “I can’t think of anything I can do now to fix the situation. Our ship has gone too far ashore. We cannot even safely return to shore. I just prayed for the disease to get better and everyone could get through it. ” The chaplain’s account of the funeral for 150 Covid-19 patients before cremation Every day, Hindu cleric RamKaran Mishra performs a funeral for about 150 people who have died from Covid-19 at the Ghazipur crematory facility east of New Delhi, India.

In February 2021, health care and epidemiologists in India were delighted to see that the pandemic-related figures have all been plummeting. The number of Covid-19 cases has decreased, and the number of oxygen ventilators is sufficient for the patient. Experts at that time predicted that India had overcome the second wave of epidemics. However, in April, “lucky god” suddenly disappeared. Pictures of a series of corpses waiting to be cremated in turn flooded social networks. Hospitals lack bed and oxygen is severe. Many sick people and desperate families turned to buying medicine at the black market. Meanwhile, many others suffocated painfully in the hospital from lack of oxygen, according to the report Washington Post. The number of new cases in India has hit a record in the past few days. There is no indication that the number of infections will decrease in the near future. Temporary crematoriums are being massively erected in India. Photo: Reuters. Gathering people Back in early February, India had just over 13,000 cases a day, while the population was 1.4 billion. India has acquired a community immunity. Up to the present time, India has become the focal point of the global epidemic and receives great attention from the international community. On April 29, the country recorded 379,257 new cases of Covid-19 and 3,645 people died from the pandemic, marking the worst day ever of the pandemic in India. To date, the number of Covid-19 cases in the country has reached 18.38 million, including 204,832 deaths, according to the Ministry of Health of India. Experts commented that community immunity in India may not exist as previously assessed. The Naga Sadhus – Hindu ascetic “saints” – carry a sword or trident, leading devotees to participate in the Kumbh Mela festival on March 11. Photo: Reuters. The new wave of epidemics has made the poor now even more afflicted. Not only that, it is also reaching the rich class in Indian society. Although the rich tried to isolate society during the first wave of epidemics, they could not avoid this epidemic either. Crowds of people also play a huge role in spreading the virus. Blockade and quarantine restrictions are believed to have been lifted too soon in the world’s second most populous country. Residents are allowed to organize major parades. Hindu festivals attract tens of millions of pilgrims. These people often gather in cramped locations without protection. Random tests at pilgrimage sites recorded thousands of new infections. Even while the epidemic was peaking, the people of India were still not following the rules. Thousands of people gathered at the Ganges River to perform the ritual of bathing the river. They believe that the waters of the Ganges can save them from disease. “People let their guard down when India launched the vaccination campaign in January. People have returned to a normal life, traveling,” said Ramanan Laxminarayan, an epidemiologist at Princeton University. calendar, organizing a family wedding and without any restrictions, even wearing a mask “. New variant Scientists are still debating the role the new variants will play in making the pandemic in India unbelievably bad. Variation B.1.1.7, first discovered in the UK, is currently the dominant variant in the Indian state of Pubjab. Many studies show that B.1.1.7 is 40 to 70% more contagious than the original virus. At the same time it also makes the patient more likely to die. A medical worker walks over the bodies at a mass cremation point in Delhi on April 26. Photo: Reuters. Another variant, B.1.617, is present in the majority of patients in the state of Maharashtra. This variant is called a “double mutation” when it contains up to 2 official mutations found in two other strains. However, to date there is no official study showing whether B.1.617 is more transmissible than other variants. India also does not have the ability to decode the genetic sequence of B.1.617. Besides that, Brazilian and South African variants are also found in India. Why India lacks oxygen? Usually India’s hospitals and medical clinics use only 15% of the liquid oxygen produced in this country. However, until now, nearly 90% of the country’s supply has been transferred to health care facilities. Some Indian states do not have factories for the production of liquid oxygen. These regions must rely on supplies from other states. It takes two hours to fill a full tank with oxygen. This caused a long queue of trucks outside the factories. Even after full, oxygen trucks can only drive at 40 km / h and only move during the day. People in India are struggling with an unprecedented wave of Covid-19. Photo: AP. In October 2020, the Indian Ministry of Health announced plans to build a plant for more liquid oxygen production. However, only 33 out of 162 factories have been built so far. Prime Minister Modi also announced plans to build 551 other oxygen liquefaction plants on April 25. Even so, it would still be too late for the dying of hypoxia patients across India. “We told the authorities that we are ready to increase capacity, but we need financial support,” said Rajabhau Shinde, director of a small oxygen plant in Maharashtra. India decided to provide vaccines to anyone over the age of 18, starting May 1. The country also limits the number of exported vaccines and concentrates on domestic distribution. Several cities and states have announced new blockade restrictions. The government ordered a curfew, banned travel, and banned unnecessary activities. However, authorities believe that blockade is only the last resort. He refused to issue a nationwide blockade. A woman and a relative after her husband died of Covid-19. Photo: Reuters. The Indian government sends oxygen trains to all regions of the country. Military medical equipment stores were opened to deal with the urgent shortage. Armed forces have been deployed to hospitals. The world immediately rescued India Countries have already begun to take measures to help India. Singapore, Germany, UK sent oxygen-related devices on April 26. France, Russia and Australia will send medical aid. China and Pakistan have offered to help. The European Union has worked with member states to provide oxygen and medicines. The World Health Organization (WHO) will send more staff and supplies to India. The White House on April 28 said it would provide $ 100 million in aid to India, including 1,000 medical oxygen cylinders, 15 million N95 masks and one million Covid-19 rapid test kits. “Just as India sent support to the United States when our hospitals were stressed in the early stages of a pandemic, the United States is determined to help India in times of need,” the White House statement said. download on the website on April 28 clearly. The US is lifting a ban on sending raw materials abroad, enabling India to produce more AstraZeneca vaccines. President Biden is mobilizing a team of health experts and funding the expansion of India’s vaccine production capabilities. Doctors Without Borders welcomed the US move. The organization calls on the US government to ask pharmaceutical companies to “share technology and know-how.” However, the companies rejected this request. The crematorium and hospital were packed with people amid the Covid-19 wave in India The number of new Indian Covid-19 cases increased by more than 360,000 on April 27. In addition, the number of deaths increased exponentially, causing the crematorium to operate day and night.

“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.

From England, more than 8,000 km away from home and 5 time zones, Anuja Vakil struggled for 12 days to manage and care for his father who was in critical condition. Mr. Jatin Bhagat is fighting Covid-19 at a hospital in Ahmedabad, Gujarat state, in western India. Ms. Vakil felt that her father was very lucky because he was finally hospitalized for treatment. The number of new infections and deaths caused by Covid-19 in India has increased continuously, making the overseas Indian community extremely concerned about their loved ones. Photo: Reuters. Before that, Vakil had to call everywhere to find a bed for special care for his father. Followed by the defiant costs, only hoping to get the therapeutic injection. Finally there were countless hours of phone calls with doctors, family and friends to resolve procedural issues. “I pray for my father every day,” Ms. Vakil said. The helplessness is halfway around the world India is currently in the serious Covid-19 crisis, the number of new infections daily for nearly two weeks has been continuously over 300,000, even up to 400,000 today. This number is expected to continue to increase, along with the common pain and anxiety of the Indian community around the world. According to UN figures in 2020, about 17 million Indians are far from home, and millions more have relatives in India. Accordingly, overseas Indians are considered the largest overseas community in the world. In the latest census in America, the country has about 4.8 million people of Indian descent. From afar, they watched in horror as their homeland was devastated by disease every day, heavier than any other country since the attack of Covid-19. For many people, their pain is accompanied by the greatest fear of their hearts: being unable to be around, not being able to help loved ones in times of need most. Anuja Vakil, who lives in England, has had to scurry to take care of her critical father a hospital bed in her hometown in India. Photo: New York Times. Indians all over the world are working diligently to find ways to help sick loved ones back home. Many people and organizations even collect money to buy oxygen generators, connect those who need care with their doctors, and use social media to share resources. Aid from the overseas Indian community is starting to arrive in India, with government aid from the UK, the US, Germany, Australia, among other countries. However, the return to relatives is very difficult. Ms. Vakil tries to focus on these positives. She said the Indians in her neighborhood in London were very enthusiastic to help. Some of her friends in New York also had relatives sick. She and they both try to revive the spirit of the family by daily video calling. Father Vakil couldn’t speak because he had to breathe, but he always nodded in response when she spoke. She could see the small wrinkles in the corners of his eyes every time she tried to make him laugh. Though he wanted to go home to take care of his father directly instead of talking on the screen, Vakil seemed unable to. “My sister told me to go home, but she didn’t understand it was very difficult,” Vakil said. The Indian community lives in large numbers in Southall, England. Photo: New York Times. India was added to Britain’s “red list” last week. This means that nearly all direct flights from the UK to India are suspended. Some people returning to the UK from India are subject to compulsory quarantine for 10 days at the expense of expensive hotels. On May 1, the US said it would begin to restrict movement to India. Travel restrictions, high costs, work obligations and the fear of getting a virus have left many people unable to return. As Covid-19 infections continued to rise, many people reported painful conversations with friends and family at home. They were helpless as they watched the horrors unfold in their homeland halfway around the world. “Every time I call back, someone dies” Jyoti Minocha, a writer and teacher living in Fairfax, Virginia, USA, is concerned about her mother and sister in New Delhi. She lost a cousin. Currently, she calls every day to find out about the situation of her relatives. “The street is as quiet as a ghost, my sister said. The only sound one can hear is the ambulance siren, ”Ms. Minocha said. “I talk to my mother almost every day,” said Ansh Sachdeva, 23, a student at the University of Bolton in northwest England. But every time I call back, I hear that someone dies, someone is infected ”. The Indian member of a Sikh church in Southall, London, provided thousands of meals a week to the community during the outbreak in England. Photo: New York Times. Sachdeva says in the New Delhi neighborhood where his family lives, not a single family is without sick people. He returned to India in November 2020 to help look after his parents and grandparents. Then they became infected. Now, I worry they will re-infect. More worryingly, travel restrictions could prevent him from returning if that happens. In January, Sachdeva’s mother also expressed concern when he returned to England. At that time, the country was experiencing the second wave of Covid-19. “For them then, the Covid-19 in India had ended.” But not! Many Indians abroad anxiously watch over their homeland as the government allows sports competitions in crowded stadiums, crowded election campaigns, and the attractive Kumbh Mela festival. millions of people participate. Following the brief joy after defeating the first wave of Covid-19, the number of infections began to increase exponentially. In England, the Indian community seems to be able to feel the pain of the people. In a residential store in Harrow – a community in northwest London inhabited by native Indians, two employees painfully recounted they had just lost loved ones last week. Harmeet Gill, 31, was born and raised in London, but had a paternal background in the northern Indian state of Punjab, also experiencing the same pain. His family is still extremely close and regularly in contact with relatives in India. “It was a double blow. We went through the Covid-19 crisis here, and we thought ‘Well, at least India is protected’. They are very anti-epidemic, ”said Gill. Harmeet Gill had a few relatives who died in his hometown because of Covid-19. Photo: New York Times. Then a little while later, bad news came. On April 26, his uncle in India passed away because of Covid-19. His aunt was hospitalized on April 29. Shortly before the second outbreak, his whole family had to return to India to mourn an uncle, the head of the family. “It is impotence. It shouldn’t have happened this way, ”he said. Gill, a volunteer at a Sikh temple in London, commented: “The terrifying scale of the pandemic shows that we have been paralyzed by it.” The temple was a center of aid during the UK’s plague, offering thousands of meals a week. Now, members at the temple are now looking for ways to help their homeland. Indian doctors living abroad also provide medical expertise and advice to dozens of friends and family members. Many people wake up early to respond to text messages asking for help, and some even call video counseling. The chaplain’s account of the funeral for 150 Covid-19 patients before cremation Every day, Hindu cleric RamKaran Mishra performs a funeral for about 150 people who have died from Covid-19 at the Ghazipur crematory facility east of New Delhi, India.

India ‘broke the game’ in the second wave of Covid-19 India is being devastated by the second wave of the Covid-19 pandemic. In just 24 hours, the number of deaths due to the country’s pandemic reached 2,000 people and more than 300,000 new cases. The data for the new infections that India reported in January and February 2021 was overwhelmingly positive, as the country of more than 1.3 billion people recorded a dramatic drop from the first peak. by 2020 it will be more than 100,000 cases, down to less than 10,000 cases / day. The data reported later on cases and deaths both seem to have a miracle happening. With more than 312,000 new cases of Covid-19, on April 22, India broke the US record and became the country with the highest number of cases of Covid-19 daily in the world. Photo: New York Times. Jishnu Das, a medical economist at Georgetown University, USA, told NPR in the early February interview: “Not that India is testing less or the data is being underreported. At first, the number of infections skyrocketed and then suddenly disappeared. Hospital intensive care units (ICUs) have been reduced. All indicators represent the decline of the pandemic. ” However, a pandemic has not disappeared so easily. It may take years to figure out the reason for that illusion, but clearly India missed the true rate of cases earlier this year, even at a time when people were celebrating the decline. decrease of the disease, until it is too late. Although it is thought that the cause is the newly discovered strain of Covid-19 in India, this wave of rise is due to the failed combination of social management, weakness in India’s health system. and policy decisions. Before the second wave – likened to a tsunami – swept the world’s second most populous country, the virus was believed to have been suppressed in India, even some regions believed to be moving forward. community translation. Besides, as the vaccination is in progress, many people have reason to believe that the situation can be controlled. Experts say that it seems that India has made the same mistakes with other countries, including the UK, after the first wave reached its peak. The countries would then return to normal and would be severely attacked by the second wave. Dr. Chandrakant Lahariy wrote in an article for India Today last week: “The second wave of Covid-19 has come a few months after the second wave in other countries where the same situation happened somewhere. mid to late 2020. There is no reason to believe that the situation will be different in India. ” “Although lax in social governance is noted, from February to April 2021, the government is also not determined to enforce measures to prevent public health epidemics. With the enacted Covid-19, it was the policymakers and elected leaders that let loose for the crowds. Among them were festivals, like Holi at the end of the month. 3, Kumbh Mela in Haridwar (March and April), election demonstrations in 5 states (March to April) “. On the other hand, India, the world’s largest producer of vaccines, has repeated the same mistakes that have occurred in the US and elsewhere, assuming that vaccination alone is enough to control Covid-19. Prime Minister Narendra Modi then stressed that social distance remains an “ultimate optimal” measure. In fact, from the UK experience, the combination of active immunization, containment and surveillance offers the best chance of mitigating the impact of the pandemic. There are three key factors: First, without effective surveillance, Covid-19 will make use of those blind spots to spread again. Second, even in the midst of the immunization movement of India, when many people are not vaccinated Covid-19 remains a strong threat, possibly putting pressure on the health system. The third and final lesson is about leadership. Actions that promote improved public awareness and encourage prejudice against normalization have a real impact in public health emergencies that depend heavily on encouraging people to be more careful.