Over to India, where at least 400,000 new cases were confirmed today – the largest number on record. Another 3,523 people died in the past day, keeping the death toll rising to 211,853. Meanwhile, a fire broke out in a COVID-19 hospital in western India, leaving at least 18 patients dead and around a hundred injured. Due to recent outbreaks in India, travel bans will be in place in the U.S. and Australia. And COVID vaccines in the nation are still in short supply, as several vaccination centres in India had to stop service.
COVID-19 is spreading like wildfire as India today set yet another daily global record with 401,993 new cases confirmed. And more and more Indians have succumbed to the virus, with more than 3,523 people died, keeping the number of fatalities rising, despite authorities’ efforts to contain the virus. The death toll has risen to 211,853, according to data from India’s Health Ministry. Experts still believes the figures are an undercount, and as usual, they say the situation might be worse than expected.
The Indian Government reportedly ignored warnings from scientists in early March that a new and more contagious variant of the coronavirus taking hold in the country. The Government has now come under fire for not imposing more restrictions to prepare India for another outbreak.
Meantime, Australia has made it a criminal offence for its citizens to return home, as it will ban those who have been India in the past 14 days from entering the country as of Monday, and that those who disobey will face fines and jail.
The United States is also going to restrict travel from India starting Tuesday, as Biden signed a proclamation barring entry to most foreigners who have been in India in the past 14 days. But legal permanent residents, spouses and close family members of U.S. citizens coming from India will still be allowed to come in. He warned of another outbreak should there be more cases involving the mutated virus strains in the U.S.
Another mishap in the country today as fire broke out in a hospital where some of the nation’s COVID-19 sufferers were treated. It left 18 patients dead and around a hundred injured. Hospital workers and firefighters started rescuing patients subsequently. The fire was extinguished within an hour, but the cause of the fire remains under investigation.
In an attempt to stave off having more and more Indians succumbing to the virus, India opened vaccinations to all adults Saturday, launching a gargantuan inoculation effort despite COVID vaccine shortages. The shortages are believed to have been caused by India’s promise to ship vaccines produced in the nation abroad as part of a United Nations vaccine-sharing programme, better known as COVAX.
The world’s largest vaccine producer, India has started to receive support from foreign nations. U.S. President Joe Biden spoke with Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday about the growing health crisis, and pledged to immediately send assistance. The U.S. then began delivering therapeutics, rapid virus test kits, and oxygen generators to India, along with raw materials needed to produce COVID vaccines. Additionally, a CDC team of public health experts is expected to arrive in India soon to help Indian health officials tame the monstrous spike in the number of COVID-19 infections.
A senior clinical lecturer specialising in infectious diseases at Britain’s University of Exeter said, “There’s ample evidence that having people wait in a long, crowded, disorderly queue (for the vaccine) could itself be a source of infection.” He also urged India to stop the circulation of the virus by imposing “a long, sustained, strictly enforced lockdown.”
So far, Indians can get the jab from the government or private hospitals. Private hospitals offer vaccine at around 3 USD. But, now, the price is determined by vaccine companies, which many fear could deepen inequities in the nation because prices at private hospitals could rise.
Either way, Indian government officials insist a more deadly outbreak won’t be able to knock the wind out of them because to them, immunising more Indians is key to successfully stopping the virus from spreading like wildfire.
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