India has recorded a record increase in recent days after a record increase in the number of corona infections. According to physician Nivedita Gupta, part of the Indian Board of Medical Research, the peak is nowhere near in sight; according to him, this will probably only follow in July. The country is first faced with a serious natural disaster.
Cyclone Amphan’s wounds are still being licked. Two weeks ago, the most powerful cyclone in the Gulf of Bengal in the last 20 years caused billions of euros in damage and killed more than 100 people. At least thirteen million people were affected.
Three million people had to be evacuated quickly: logistically, this is a huge pain point for the Indian government, and experts fear that corona measures, such as keeping a distance, are not always followed closely.
A new humanitarian disaster is imminent, as for the first time in recent history Mumbai, the metropolis of Mumbai, is in the path of a cyclone. Hundreds of thousands of people along the coast have already been evacuated and new evacuations cannot be ruled out.
Cyclone can definitely overwhelm healthcare
Healthcare in the city is already under pressure, the news agency writes Reuters. If the cyclone, which has been given the name Nisarga, does significant damage, it is likely that hospitals in the city with more than twenty million inhabitants will be overwhelmed.
In the last week, the number of infections rose steadily by seven to eight thousand a day to above 200,000. In addition, the death toll rose by more than a hundred people every day in the past month to nearly six thousand. In recent days, there have been more than two hundred deaths every 24 hours.
That numbers are now beginning to rise, authorities attribute to ending the severe lockdown, which left 1.3 billion people and hit the economy hard.
Increase in number of infections after lockdown ended
The Indian government recently restarted public transport, writes Reuters. As a result, many workers left cities such as Mumbai, where they were “locked up” when the lockdown came into effect.
Where contaminations have hitherto been mainly identified in the larger cities, health authorities have now seen increases in the areas immediately surrounding them.
On Tuesday, the Indian government decided to use the controversial remdesivir drug in corona patients who are in bad shape. The effect of the drug has not been proven, but there are indications that the drug can improve health.
The United States and Japan made the same decision earlier. The medicine is still under scrutiny at the European Medicines Agency, a precondition before any approval will follow.
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