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More people diagnosed with COVID in past 2 weeks than in first 6 months of pandemic, WHO says Nelson Oliveira
As Americans continue to take steps toward normal life, India and several other countries are dealing with an explosion of new coronavirus infections that is likely to delay the world’s recovery from the deadly crisis, health authorities warned Monday.
The number of COVID-19 cases reported around the world in the last two weeks was higher than the total of confirmed infections in the first six months of the pandemic, according to the World Health Organization. India and Brazil, which are going through their worst days since the pandemic began, account for more than half of last week’s cases, the agency said.
By Khushaal Vyas
Published May 3, 2021
I remember receiving the call late at night at the office last year from the Australian High Commission. After months of trying, there was one seat available on a flight the next day to bring mum home from India. I remember telling the rest of the family and, we all just broke down. Quiet, relieved sobs echoing through the receiver. Our nightmare was finally coming to an end.
This was before India’s deadly second wave. Before the stories of oxygen shortages, overflowing hospitals and mass cremations. Even then, we were still stressed every single day about how mum would be able to protect herself. Even then, we had to wait months before we could bring her home.
India s Covid-19 escape route is closing
30 Apr, 2021 02:49 AM
7 minutes to read
A mass cremation site in New Delhi, India. Photo / Atul Loke, The New York Times
New York Times
By: Sameer Yasir, Shashank Bengali and Rick Gladstone India is the world s leading producer of vaccines, but over the past week it has also been the global leader in Covid-19 deaths, and it is not at all clear that the country can vaccinate itself out of the crisis.
The answer to that question is a matter of urgent interest in India, where a second wave of infection has left a tableau of death and despair, but it may also have big implications for other countries battling the pandemic.
One of the few bright spots is the vaccination campaign, which has finally gathered speed after a sluggish start over the past few months. More than 12 million people have received at least a first shot and the government expects an additional eight million to be vaccinated by mid-May, when a gradual reopening is set to begin.
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In London on Monday after Britain began lifting its lockdown restrictions.Credit.Mary Turner for The New York Times
Poland is struggling to find its way out of its third wave of infections, even as the wave seems to have peaked. A recent spike in Covid-19 infections and deaths is putting immense pressure on the underfunded and understaffed health care system.