People rush from hospital to hospital with seriously ill relatives and are repeatedly turned away. There are no more beds, no more medical oxygen. People like John Abhijeet from Delhi are also desperately looking for help on Twitter. He and his whole family are Corona-positive, his mother is particularly bad.
“My mother’s condition quickly deteriorated and I must have made about 80 calls,” says Abhijeet. Now she is finally in an oxygen-supplied bed. But he’s scared. Twitter is now a sea of obituaries for countless loved ones. Old and young.
From 10,000 to 300,000 new infections
In India with its more than 1.3 billion inhabitants, fewer than 10,000 cases a day were known at the beginning of the year. Today there are more than 300,000. How could it possibly come this far?
At the beginning of the year there was still euphoria in the country. Many thought that the worst was over after a first wave last summer with up to 100,000 cases a day. Normal life returned.
Millions of Hindus taking a ritual bath in the Ganges
More and more people gave up wearing masks and keeping their distance. Then there were religious festivals – including one where millions of Hindus bathed in the sacred river Ganges for weeks to come closer to a state of liberation where the endless cycle of birth, death and rebirth ends and all suffering ceases. There were also election campaign events with large crowds.
Virus mutations are also likely to play a role. The Indian variant B.1.617 is under observation by the World Health Organization (WHO).
In addition, only just under ten percent of the population in India have received at least one vaccine dose – even though the country itself produces vaccine on a large scale. But until recently, the world’s largest democracy, according to its own statements, had exported a total of more than 66 million cans to 95 predominantly poor countries, some of them even given away. India had presented itself to the world as the pharmacy.
Authorities report 2,263 deaths within one day
Now the hospitals are full – and so are the crematoria. According to the latest figures from the Ministry of Health on Friday, 2,263 people died from or with Covid within one day. The undertakers are overwhelmed with orders, the employees in the crematoria almost fail to keep up.
The health system was hit hard by the violence of the second Indian corona wave. There have been reports of a black market in oxygen and virus inhibitors. John Abhijeet tried to buy 1000 milligrams of remdesivir – he received offers for the equivalent of 330 euros, six times the official price.
Accidents also affect mood. This week, more than 20 ventilated corona sufferers died as a result of a leaky oxygen tank in a hospital in the city of Nashik. At least 13 others died in a fire in an intensive care unit in Virar.
Bad experience with hard lockdown
What’s next? Prime Minister Narendra Modi wants to avoid broad lockdowns if possible. Because a year ago a tough nationwide lockdown led to the mass migration of millions of migrant workers from the big cities to the villages because they were afraid of starvation. They also carried the virus to the province with it.
But at least the country seems to want to speed up vaccination. India wants faster approval of vaccines that have already been approved by drug agencies in some richer countries and the EU. And the “pharmacy of the world” wants to do something almost unthinkable: import vaccines. (SDA / noo)