Collapse in India due to the covid-19 pandemic 1:07
(CNN Spanish) -
India has made headlines in recent weeks due to the increase in infections and mass funerals as a result of covid-19.
How did the country break the world record for confirmed coronavirus cases?
Dr. Elmer Huerta explores it in this episode.
You can listen to this episode on Spotify or your favorite podcast platform or read the transcript below.
Hello, I am Dr. Elmer Huerta and this is your daily dose of information about the new coronavirus.
Information that we hope will be useful to take care of your health and that of your family.
Today we will see what is happening - in relation to the pandemic - in India, and how it has reached a situation as dramatic as the one we are observing.
India and its population density, one of the largest in the world
Let's start by remembering, and reflecting, on what it means for a country to have almost 1,400 million inhabitants.
That's the population of India, a number second only to China, which has only slightly more.
advertising
But the issue is not only the total number of inhabitants, but also the number of people per square kilometer, that is, the population density.
In this sense, India, with 450 people per square kilometer, is one of the 10 countries with the highest population density on the planet, with cities like New Delhi, which has 9,340 people per square kilometer.
Imagine then that a disease as contagious as COVID-19 manages to penetrate a society that, in addition to having such a high number of inhabitants, also has cities with a high level of population density.
If to these characteristics of the population, we add controversial decisions of their leaders, the conditions are set for the humanitarian calamity that is being observed in the last two weeks of April to occur.
Covid-19 in India: 11,000 daily cases on average
Reviewing the number of new cases of covid-19 in India during this year, it is observed that, during the last two weeks of January and the first two weeks of February, the lowest figures of the year were counted, with around 11,000 cases daily on average.
That made Prime Minister Narendra Modi say three months ago, that India had controlled the pandemic, and that - because India has 18% of the world's population - that had saved the world from disgrace.
For his part, the federal Health Minister also said that the covid-19 outbreak in India had been contained, allowing Mumbai 's huge network of suburban trains to open and tens of thousands of visitors to enter the stadiums for the international cricket matches.
In addition, during election time, politicians such as Prime Minister Modi and his rivals carried out electoral proselytizing events with hundreds of thousands of supporters, most of them without masks.
The authorities also did not order the population to limit their presence at religious festivals such as the long Kumbh Mela festival in the northern city of Haridwar, which attracted nearly 5 million Hindu pilgrims, mostly without masks, to the banks of the holy Ganges River. , people who, according to the organizers, were convinced that Maa Ganga (mother Ganga in Hindi) would save them from the pandemic.
March, one of the worst months for the country
Progressively, in March, the number of cases increased, reaching more than 50,000 new cases daily at the end of that month.
Today, India has the highest daily numbers recorded in any country during the pandemic, reaching 357,000 new cases in a single day.
It is estimated that in India between 300 to 500 million people have been infected.
To make matters worse, its vaccination coverage is less than 2% of its inhabitants.
In addition to strictly population-dependent reasons, due to the high number of infections, a variant of SARS-CoV-2, called B.1.617, has formed, which is thought to be more contagious than the original version of the virus and to be it could even produce a different clinical picture of the disease, attacking younger people.
This variant is circulating in addition to variants B.1.1.7 from the United Kingdom and B.1.351, from South Africa.
The result of these conditions is a true catastrophe, in which - as was seen in other countries in the world that suffered the ravages of the pandemic - health systems have been so affected that they cannot receive all seriously ill patients they need help.
Deaths in India, images that travel the world
Drone captures mass cremations in India 2:03
The deaths are so numerous that, in a shocking visual hit never seen during the pandemic, thousands of funeral pyres have been built in the streets and parks for the cremation of the corpses.
The funeral pyre is the handmade construction like an altar, made of wooden logs, in which the corpse of a person is placed in the upper part and burned in the open air.
Without a doubt, this is a very big lesson for everyone.
The virus, left to its free will, is undoubtedly going to wreak havoc on a population in which it finds the conditions to spread easily.
People without masks, who live in very dense cities, in which social distancing is not respected, increase the number of cases, thus also increasing hospitalized cases, cases in intensive care units and the needs of patients.
In this sense, oxygen is scarce and numerous donations, coming from various countries of the world, are arriving in India.
No one knows what course this calamity will take, but there is no doubt that the funeral pyres of India will forever remain in the memory of all of us who have lived through this pandemic.
Do you have questions about the coronavirus?
Send me your questions on Twitter, we will try to answer them in our next episodes.
You can find me at @DrHuerta.
If you think this podcast is useful, help others find it by rating it on your favorite podcast app.
We'll be back tomorrow so be sure to subscribe to get the latest episode on your account.
And for the most up-to-date information you can always head to CNNEspanol.com.
Thanks for your attention.
If you have any questions you can send them to Dr. Elmer Huerta through Twitter. You can also head over to CNNE.com/coronaviruspodcast for all episodes of our “Coronavirus: Reality vs. Reality” podcast. fiction".
coronavirusCovid-19India