While numbers are declining in every other region globally, cases in India are still soaring and made up half the new cases worldwide over the last week.
Britain has already declared a new variant found in India to be of “concern.”
The Indian government, stung by criticism of its handling of the new crisis, has largely left individual state administrations to handle pandemic clampdowns.
While major cities such as New Delhi and Mumbai have been boosted by extra supplies of oxygen much of it from abroad and new hospital beds opened up, the southern states of Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Kerala have all ordered lockdowns to counter an explosion in cases.
In this picture taken on May 5, 2021, an employee checks medical oxygen cylinders for the COVID-19 coronavirus patients at Kalinga oxygen refilling center in Moradabad (Prakash SINGH / AFP)
People infected with COVID-19 in villages are being treated in makeshift outdoor clinics, with IV drips hanging from trees.
As deaths soar, crematoriums and burial grounds have been swamped with bodies, and relatives often wait hours to perform the last rites for their loved ones.
Merchants support tougher measures
The situation is so dramatic that among those calling for a strict lockdown are merchants who know their businesses will be affected but see no other way out.
People wear masks as they shop at a vegetable and fruit market in Kochi, India, on Friday.(Arunchandra Bose/AFP/Getty Images) Only if our health is good, will we be able to earn, said Aruna Ramjee, a florist in the southern Indian city of Bengaluru. The lockdown will help everyone, and coronavirus spread will also come down.
Egypt isn’t alone in seeing mounting new infections. Worldwide, more cases have been reported in the past two weeks than in the entire first six months of the pandemic, World Health Organization director general Tedros Adhanom said.
India and Brazil accounted for a large part of that, “but there are many other countries all over the world that face a very fragile situation,” he said. “What is happening in India and Brazil could happen elsewhere unless we all take these public health precautions.”
India has been hit by a catastrophic surge of COVID-19 infections after its prime minister boasted of vanquishing the pandemic and following multiple massive crowding events. New cases and deaths skyrocketed nearly 30-fold during March and April. The health system has been overwhelmed, leaving patients desperate for oxygen and other supplies.
As a child, Harris used to visit India every other year. Now all that remains of her extended family there are her aunt and uncle. Another Indian-born aunt lives in Canada.
Balachandran said that while he used to hear about friends of friends getting the virus, now it’s hitting close to home. Those he knows personally or worked with are getting the virus, and some are dying.
“The conditions are pretty bad in India,” he said.
Balachandran considers himself one of the lucky ones, as he’s retired and largely stays home alone, leaving only occasionally for groceries, so that “nobody can infect me other than myself.”