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.

At the cremation site, where the fire was only temporarily extinguished late at night, loved ones had to wait for hours to say goodbye. The cremation scene was photographed, filmed, even broadcast live on social networks. These images will be sent to relatives in quarantine across India. They even appear on entire world news and newspapers, bringing India’s tragedy to a global audience. Fire ceremony participants must wear masks and protective gear. Photo: The New York Times. From the rooftops, local residents took pictures of the fire to show the world why they had to wear masks even indoors. Smoke and a strong smell of death, enveloping narrow alleys all day, even crept through closed windows, according to The New York Times. The cremation flame is a testament to the devastation caused by the Covid-19 pandemic on India. Exhausted from cremation The Covid-19 virus spread too quickly in India. The country continuously records more than 400,000 new cases every day. Nowhere in the country is beyond the devastating “tsunami”. Every day about 300 official deaths are recorded in New Delhi. However, this number is not believed to reflect the reality. “Before the pandemic, I received six to eight bodies a day,” said Jitender Singh Shunty, founder of a volunteer cremation organization Seemapuri, east of New Delhi. Now, every day I have to hold a cremation ceremony for about 100 bodies. Through his organization Shaheed Bhagat Singh Sewa Dal, Mr. Shunty has provided free or low-cost cremation services to the poor for 25 years. As demand skyrocketed, Mr. Shunty’s full-time workforce encountered numerous difficulties. They had to build dozens of new crematoriums in the adjacent field. Mr. Shunty’s cremation center received 100 bodies a day. Photo: The New York Times. Mr. Shunty’s daily job is to help move bodies and arrange the location of his cremation. During a pandemic, he had to change his protective shirt, mask and gloves dozens of times a day. At night, he slept in his car because his wife and two sons had Covid-19. Crematorial staff are receiving special care in the hospital. “Our team is about 16 people. We are working day and night, ”he said. “It is only 8 am, but I have received 22 phone calls to confirm the body.” According to Hindu tradition, cremation is a frequently used method. They believe that cremation disrupts the association of the soul with the physical body. The eldest son will lead the funeral delegation and relatives will carry the body onto the funeral pyre. A Hindu monk, also known as pandit, will recite his last prayers before the fire is lit. The ash of the deceased will be scattered in the Ganges or another sacred river. Mourners will gather at the deceased person’s home to commemorate and conduct prayer rituals. Families usually collect the ash immediately to avoid confusion. Unclaimed ashes, Mr. Shunty said, are held for up to two months, after which they are scattered into the Ganges River. Separate birth and death In addition, the pandemic also deprives the deceased’s final rites and deprives relatives of their private space. Traditionally, relatives will gather to share the pain of loss. Now, the fear of infection keeps most loved ones away. Even many bodies were cremated with no one nearby. “My family members can’t even see those last moments,” said Mittain Panani, a 46-year-old businessman. Mr. Panani and his brother are the only two people who directly attended their father’s cremation in Mumbai. His mother is still hospitalized with Covid-19. “Even if you have money, power, influence, you can’t do anything in that moment. I feel really powerless, ”he said sadly. Relatives brought the body of Covid-19 patient to the cremation area. Photo: The New York Times. “Flames were rising from the funeral pyre, relatives wearing masks and protective clothing. The scene is like the end of the world, ”said Dimple Kharbanda, a film producer who returned to New Delhi to attend the cremation ceremony of his late father. She had to beg relatives, including aunts in the neighboring state, not to come to Delhi because of the risk of infection. “When someone in India dies, we get together and talk about them, their lives, their habits and the good things. However, at this point, we can’t even do that, ”said Poonam Sikri, Ms. Kharbanda’s biological aunt. “When I watched his cremation (Miss Kharbanda’s father) on the phone, it felt like I had lost a part of my body. I want to stroke his hair, rub his face and hug him one last time. But I can’t do it ”. For the families of Covid-19 victims, the cremation site is the final stop of a series of difficult trials. It ended a series of days dragging patients from hospital to hospital in search of a bed and struggling in line for oxygen. Last stop Before Darwan Singh’s body was taken to Seemapuri, his family did everything they could to save the 56-year-old breadwinner. His fever did not go away while the oxygen level in his blood dropped to a dangerously low level of 42%. For two days, his family could not find a hospital bed or an oxygen tank. His nephew, Kuldeep Rawat, said he was given oxygen for an hour before the hospital supplies ran out. The family brought Mr. Singh home at night. The next day, they had to wait another five hours in the parking lot of another hospital. Mr. Rawat said the family had to pay a bribe of about $ 70 to get a free bed in a public hospital. Unfortunately, Mr. Singh died overnight. According to Hindu tradition, cremation is believed to break the connection of the soul with the physical body. Photo: New York Times. With the Seemapuri cremation center overloaded, the hospital was unable to immediately hand over the body. On April 25, his body and five other people were taken to the cremation site. Mr. Rawat said he had to get in an ambulance to confirm his uncle’s identity. The family then took him inside the crematorium and had to wait 5 hours before it was his turn to bring his uncle to the pyre. Even the last stop also cost them a relatively large amount: 25 USD for the prayer meeting, 34 USD for wood, 14 USD for the pandit priest and 5 USD for the protective suit. Mr. Singh’s family could not even come to the funeral. Both his mother, wife, daughter and son were infected with Covid-19. Mr. Rawat feared that he would also be infected during the period of sending his uncle to the emergency room. “They have a hard time understanding what’s going on.” For the families living around the crematorium, the fire that burns all night and day is a constant reminder of Covid-19’s death that awaits them. In the Sunlight Colony, where shabby houses and flats lie with Seemapuri, smoke is so much that many people are forced to wear masks while indoors. Children are rinsed with hot water before going to bed and laundry is dried in the room. People living near cremators must wear masks even when indoors. Photo: The New York Times. Waseem Qureishi, a resident right next to the Seemapuri crematorium, said: “My kitchen is upstairs but I really can’t stand it inside. If the wind is headed towards my house, the situation is even worse. Anuj Bhansal, an ambulance driver who lives near the Ghazipur crematorium, also in eastern New Delhi, says he is very worried about his four children. He said every time the cremated body number reached 100 people, children in the neighborhood would run up a nearby garbage hill to see. “When the children watched the fire and smoke coming from the cremation site, they asked why it did not go out,” Mr Bhansal said sadly. “They have a hard time understanding what’s going on.” 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.

VOCs include corona virus variants that are more dangerous than the original strains, with a higher potential for infection and lethality. WHO previously classified B.1.617 as a “strain variable” (VOI), a level of danger lower than that of the VOC. Variant B.1.617 was first discovered in the Vidarbha region of the Indian state of Maharashtra last December. B.1.617 contains 2 mutations L452R and E484Q, or “double mutation”. According to WHO, variant B.1.617 is already present in more than 20 countries. Malaysian soldiers and security personnel at a blockade to block the entrance of the capital Kuala Lumpur. Photo: Bloomberg Malaysia blockade nationwide for 3 weeks Malaysian Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin on May 10 announced that the country would again apply a nationwide blockade within three weeks. According to Reuters, Prime Minister Yassin said the decision to blockade from May 12 to June 7 is necessary, as the number of new infections and the emergence of corona virus variants are putting pressure on. public health system. “Malaysia is facing a third wave of Covid-19 that is likely to cause a national crisis,” explained Mr. Yassin. “Data and science continue to show gathering practices, which make it difficult to maintain social disparity, and the presence of people in confined spaces as the main cause of social disparity. spread of Covid-19 “. Malaysia’s Ministry of Health said on May 10 that the country had 3,807 new cases of Covid-19 infection, bringing the total number of cases to 444,484. The number of Covid-19 deaths increased by 17 to a total of 1,700. The Malaysian government has also introduced the Movement Control Order (MCO), which prohibits all activities with crowds such as weddings or dining at restaurants, closes schools, limits 3 to 1. car (including driver) … The body of a suspected Covid-19 washed up on the banks of the Ganges River At least 40 bodies were washed ashore on the banks of the Ganges section between the two Indian states of Bihar and Uttar Pradesh. “The incident happened at the Ganges section in Buxar district, near the state border of Bihar and Uttar Pradesh. We instructed authorities to dispose of the bodies by burial or cremation,” said Ashok Kumar, local official. , said May 10. Buxar district media said, the number of bodies washed ashore could reach about 100. Many of these are decomposing and may have been in the river for many days. Some officials are concerned that these may be the remains of victims recently passed away from Covid-19. Locals believe that the bodies were dropped into the river because the cremation area was overloaded or relatives of the dead could not afford firewood. “This is what really shocked us,” said Kameshwar Pandey, a person who lives near the riverbank. According to data from Johns Hopkins University (JHU), on May 10, India recorded more than 366,000 new cases and nearly 3,800 deaths. To date, the country has recorded a total of more than 22.6 million cases and more than 246,000 deaths by Covid-19. Taiwan isolating China Airlines pilots Tran Thoi Chung, head of the Taiwanese health agency (China), said on May 10 that all pilots of the island’s largest airline would be quarantined for 14 days to prevent spread of Covid-19. Chung said the only way he could stop what he believed was a cluster of infections at China Airlines was to isolate all of the airline’s returning and returning pilots, Chung said. “This will have a big impact on China Airlines, for its passenger, cargo and crew flights. But for the safety of the entire community, we can’t help but make a decision. This, “he announced. China Airlines did not comment on the decision, although it has repeatedly said it will work with authorities to end Covid-19 infection, and increase vaccination of its employees, including both the pilot. Vietnamese-English

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.

Many states in southern India are warning to stop sharing medical oxygen with each other, protecting all that is available as their hospitals increasingly “swell” because of the increased number of COVID-19 cases. leap. At an Andhra Pradesh hospital, the family of COVID-19 patients went into a rage when the hospital treating their loved ones suddenly had their oxygen supply interrupted. These are the best evidences of the recurring tragedy in India itself. Despair that enveloped New Delhi – the capital of India, over the past few weeks has now spread across the country. Rural areas with poor health infrastructure are slowly feeling the devastation caused by the COVID-19 tsunami. According to the New York Times , it seems that the COVID-19 crisis in India is entering a new phase. Workers deliver oxygen tanks to a hospital in the states of Jammu and Kashmir. (Photo: AP) The number of COVID-19 cases in New Delhi and Mumbai is slowing down. But elsewhere are now really taking the COVID-19 blow. People questioned New Delhi, home to many of India’s top hospitals and packed with the country’s elite that can’t even handle the massive surge in cases, what will happen in the regions. poor countryside. On the night of May 10, a government hospital in Andhra Pradesh fell into a state of oxygen depletion. Doctors frantically call the providers to ask for help. But when the source could not be found, 11 patients died. The families of the patients, after learning of the news, entered the intensive care unit, screaming and smashing the equipment. TV images show the women holding their heads in despair. Doctors and nurses had to flee and wait for the police to arrive. Despite the aid of other countries, India still has a serious shortage of medical oxygen. More than 20 hospitals were depleted of oxygen, nearly 200 patients died from lack of oxygen. Vaccine campaign is being accelerated, but supply is not enough demand. Many vaccination sites in the states have run out of vaccines and people are still unable to schedule vaccinations. When the COVID-19 tsunami shows no signs of cooling down, the wave of criticism against Prime Minister Narendra Modi has intensified. Many people thought that he declared the victory of the epidemic too soon, causing the country to fall off guard. Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) remains India’s most powerful political organization by far. But the solid wall the party has maintained over the years is showing some cracks. When the second wave of COVID-19s began to strike India, the country almost split into two extremes. New Delhi, Mumbai – the two largest cities in India warned that the number of new infections increased continuously with the infection rate up to 36%. In rural areas, the epidemic has also spread but has not yet strongly exploded, leaving many people leisurely. Currently, the situation in New Delhi and Mumbai is improving. On May 11, New Delhi reported 12,481 new infections, half the number of cases recorded on April 30. The positive rate for COVID-19 decreased to 19%. A mass cremation site on the banks of the Ganges River in Allahabad city, Uttar Pradesh. (Image: Getty Images) In Mumbai, the commercial capital of India, the incidence of infection decreased from 25% to 7%. People began to believe that the epidemic was about to end – something they didn’t dare to think about a few weeks ago. Last month, many hospitals in New Delhi were closed due to lack of oxygen. People are not allowed to be hospitalized to die right in front of the emergency room, in front of the hospital gate, or even on the street. When the situation was less stressful, these hospitals accepted the patients again. At the beginning of April, the infection rate in many rural India was only one digit. But now, this number is skyrocketing. “It’s hard to imagine what’s going on in the rural areas, where infection rates rose from 8% in early April to almost 27% on May 11. “, Professor Rijo M John went to the Indian Institute of Management in Kerala state. According to Mr. John, rural India does not carry out testing much and many patients may be dying because they do not receive treatment. On May 11, Modi’s government dispatched an “oxygen express train” to bring liquid oxygen to COVID-19 hotspots in the southern region. But states need more than that. A few weeks ago, several southern Indian states agreed to share oxygen supplies with each other. This week, some started mentioning ceasing to cooperate. The state government of Kerala says it cannot supply oxygen to neighboring states as it needs to retain the entire supply for the state’s growing demand. Tamil Nadu also made a similar statement, claiming he could not be shared with his poorer neighbor, Andhra Pradesh. Earlier this week in the village of Chausa, Bihar state, people panicked when they found dozens of bodies floating mysteriously on the banks of the Ganges River. No one knows who these people are or how their bodies got there. Even on the evening of May 10, images of decomposing bodies in colorful, bulging and floating bodies floating on the river shook the Indian media. Suspected bodies of COVID-19 have been washed ashore in the Ganges river in the past few days. (Photo: PTI) About 30 bodies have been found, most likely, of patients with COVID-19, officials say. Meanwhile local people said they saw about 100 bodies. “I’ve never seen so many bodies,” Arun Kumar Srivastava, a doctor in Chausa said. When the uneasiness of the villagers of Chausa had not passed, their neighbor witnessed the same scene. Villagers in Gahmar village, Uttar Pradesh state found more than 50 bodies of patients with COVID-19 washed up on the banks of the Ganges River as they passed their villages. Krishna Dutt Mishra, an ambulance driver in Chausa, said many poor people were throwing their loved ones into the river when the cremation price increased from $ 27 (more than 600,000 dong) to 200 dollars (more than 4.6 million dong). At many cremation sites, staff in some places charge five or even 10 times more than the usual price. For many families, this is too much for them.

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.

Through her writings, is the feeling of an India different and out of the currents very clear? On the 7th day of the Lunar New Year, when COVID-19 raged in Wuhan, I was in Kolkata with a delegation of Vietnamese writers. For a few days we did not have internet, so we did not know any news in Hanoi or the world. Until the last day, we were invited to dinner by your side in a luxury restaurant, then there was wifi. Looking at the photos taken online, we were scared and scared, unable to believe that the city where we lived was still peaceful a few days ago. So we stuck our noses in reading the news, couldn’t eat or drink, didn’t even bother to raise our heads to chat with anyone. The landlord saw that no one had touched the chopsticks, and wondered and worried, did not understand what was going on. Of course they were saddened because the party they carefully prepared was a failure. We then were also ashamed of that impolite attitude. But at that time how could not eat anymore. So early the next morning, instead of going shopping and preparing presents, we suggest that you take to the pharmacy to buy … masks. Each person took advantage of buying 3-layer masks. Buying stubs buy crazy makes everyone surprised. We tell each other that this thing to bring back as a gift is very precious, because there is a shortage of goods at home. They were surprised because in the big city of Kolkata, people still go to school to work normally. Because COVID has yet to spread and India has not had any cases yet. At that time I said that if India had COVID, it would be catastrophic because their case number would definitely be at the top of the world. After exactly 1 year, the members of the crew kept saying that I had the ability … to prophesy, but I only spoke logically. Writer Di Li released flowers to pray at the Ganges River. Does the wave of COVID-19 seem like it only wants to submerge this country has to do with the different lifestyles of the people here? Yes, India is the second most populous in the world and is expected to be about to take the top spot of China. However, India’s population density is now 3 times that of China. If we look at the pictures taken of India, most of our impression is the terrible crowd. It seems that every time you open the door, you can see people intertwined in chaos as if there was a big turn, at times it seemed like there was a war and people were in a hurry to evacuate. Living conditions, hygiene and awareness of the people are also major issues contributing to the spread of the epidemic (not just COVID). The Indians are also religious. Vietnamese people participate in religious festivals not because of fanaticism or devotion, but a mixture of culture, habits, joyful assembly and superstition, if the Government requests that the festival be stopped. everyone is happy to obey. Not in India. We are amazed that the Indian Kashmir government is still allowing 600,000 pilgrims in the midst of more than 3 hundred thousand new infections each day and nearly 3 thousand COVID deaths. But religion has a huge power in this country. Many would rather die than give up on pilgrimage. The king lost to the village’s custom in such place. Di Li’s feelings in the days when the whole world was heading towards India must certainly be different from those who have never set foot here. You can share that with readers of Health & Life. I love India so much that after my return trip last New Year, less than 2 months later, I arranged another trip to India, which was to travel by myself, not for business. I bought a plane ticket and made a visa, but close to the date of the flight, in early March, India announced a blockade, internal and external import and export. It is true that I quietly watch India every day, over there I also have many friends. And I worry about them. I was heartbroken to see the numbers soar every day but not surprised. Anyway, I always pray for the country I love. I am extremely impressed with the pages written under the title Dawn on the Ganges River. Is there a connection between dead bodies floating in rivers and mass cremations in this country? In the past, when I was sailing on the Ganges River, I was scared to see the crematoriums along the river and the chaos of people bathing and washing activities right next to me. Now it is too mysterious that people have to cremate even on the street, still in the midst of the common activities. I can imagine it, but I always try not to imagine it anymore. Thank you writer Di Li for the conversation! Vo Hong Thu ( (perform) )