Shobhaa De | Can blatant lies save India from Covid-19?
Published : May 1, 2021, 12:00 am IST
Updated : May 1, 2021, 12:00 am IST
The people of India are the country’s real strength, while its biggest tragedy are its politicians
Victims of Covid-19 being cremated at Dwarka cremation ground in New Delhi, Friday, April 30, 2021. (PTI Photo)
Dr Zarir Udwadia, one of India’s most respected physicians, spoke for 1.4 billion Indians in a no-holds-barred BBC interview recently. He talked calmly, but the anguish was palpable. He didn’t mince words. Short of calling the government names for letting us down, he spoke his mind in perfectly articulated, easy-to-understand lingo. He mentioned the “dreadful deficiencies” (understatement, doc!), “complacency” (I call it cruelty), “vaccine desperation” and much more. He also warned it’s likely to take 600 days before India can hope to achieve “herd immunity”. Gird your loins: we have a long, painful, scary way ah
India Covid-19 ICU chief: What we are seeing is nothing short of an apocalypse
From CNN s Adrienne Vogt
An intensive care unit chief in India said the devastating coronavirus wave in the country is “nothing short of an apocalypse.”
“We ve had patients being rushed in, almost wards getting filled up overnight, 90 patients in less than 12 hours. The problem with this virus is the second wave is extremely contagious, extremely aggressive, and it is affecting the younger population in a significantly different way that we had not expected,” said Dr. Farah Husain, head of the Covid-19 ICU unit at Lok Nayak Hospital in Delhi.
“Responsibility is ours,” spokesman of India’s ruling party says about the Covid-19 crisis
From CNN’s Emmet Lyons and Henry Hullah
The responsibility for the devastating second wave that is sweeping India belongs “first and foremost” to the government but the situation could not have been foreseen, according to Narendra Taneja, a spokesperson for the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
“We are in power, we are the government in India so of course responsibility is first and foremost ours, good or bad, whatever it is, Taneja told CNN’s Christiane Amanpour. It is our responsibility and we’re trying our very level best.
endIndex: Covid-19 coronavirus patients rest inside a banquet hall temporarily converted into a Covid-19 coronavirus ward in New Delhi on April 29, 2021.
(CNN) Responsibility for the devastating second wave of Covid-19 now sweeping India belongs first and foremost to the government, according to Narendra Taneja, a spokesman for the ruling BJP party. We are in power, we are the government in India so of course responsibility is first and foremost ours, good or bad, whatever it is. It is our responsibility and we re trying our very level best, Taneja told CNN s Christiane Amanpour on Thursday.
However, he also argued that the current crisis could not have been foreseen. A lot of people are saying that. we knew in February. At that time, scientists and doctors were more or less of the same view, he said.