April 13, 2021
The second wave of Covid-19 in India has thrown up alarming statistics over the past week, with over 145,000 new infections and 794 deaths reported on Saturday (April 10) alone. While states like Maharashtra, Chhattisgarh, and Gujarat have been recording high infection numbers for a few weeks, Delhi and Uttar Pradesh reported their biggest single-day jumps in cases over the past few days. In many places, hospitals have run out of beds and states have run out of vaccines.
But the biggest fear for a vast section of India’s population is not the virus at all. For working-class Indians, particularly daily-wage earners, informal workers, and the urban poor, the scariest part of this second wave is the possibility of another lockdown.
Indians fear lockdowns more than Covid-19. How prepared are governments to avert a crisis this time?
As a second wave hits India, city officials dismissed the need to make plans to avoid food distress among migrant workers. 15 hours ago An image from April 2020: A daily wage labourer stood in a queue for free food at a construction site where activity has been halted due to the lockdown in Delhi. | Reuters/ Adnan Abidi
The second wave of Covid-19 in India has thrown up alarming statistics over the past week, with over 1.45 lakh new infections and 794 deaths reported on Saturday alone. While states like Maharashtra, Chhattisgarh and Gujarat have been recording high infection numbers for a few weeks, Delhi and Uttar Pradesh reported their biggest single-day jumps in cases on Sunday. In many places, hospitals have run out of beds and states have run out of vaccines.