Gandhi warns 'explosive' Covid wave threatens India and the world
Skip to main content
  • Home
  • Economy
  • Stocks
  • Analysis
  • World+Biz
  • Sports
  • Splash
  • Features
  • Videos
  • Long Read
  • Games
  • Epaper
  • More
    • COVID-19
    • Bangladesh
    • Infograph
    • Interviews
    • Offbeat
    • Thoughts
    • Podcast
    • Quiz
    • Tech
    • Subscribe
    • Archive
    • Trial By Trivia
    • Magazine
    • Supplement
  • বাংলা
The Business Standard
TUESDAY, MAY 24, 2022
TUESDAY, MAY 24, 2022
  • Home
  • Economy
  • Stocks
  • Analysis
  • World+Biz
  • Sports
  • Splash
  • Features
  • Videos
  • Long Read
  • Games
  • Epaper
  • More
    • COVID-19
    • Bangladesh
    • Infograph
    • Interviews
    • Offbeat
    • Thoughts
    • Podcast
    • Quiz
    • Tech
    • Subscribe
    • Archive
    • Trial By Trivia
    • Magazine
    • Supplement
  • বাংলা
Gandhi warns 'explosive' Covid wave threatens India and the world

Coronavirus chronicle

Reuters
07 May, 2021, 03:40 pm
Last modified: 07 May, 2021, 03:46 pm

Related News

  • India to limit sugar exports in risk to global food prices
  • Beijing ramps up Covid quarantine, Shanghai residents decry uneven rules
  • Climate change boosted odds of recent deadly heat in India, Pakistan
  • Investcorp targets $400 million at Indian school infrastructure, warehousing
  • US considering $4B additional support for India

Gandhi warns 'explosive' Covid wave threatens India and the world

Gandhi said the world's second-most populous nation had a responsibility in "a globalised and interconnected world" to stop the "explosive" growth of Covid-19 within its borders

Reuters
07 May, 2021, 03:40 pm
Last modified: 07 May, 2021, 03:46 pm
A man receives oxygen support for free at a Gurudwara (Sikh temple), amidst the spread of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), in Ghaziabad, India, May 6, 2021. REUTERS/Danish Siddiqui
A man receives oxygen support for free at a Gurudwara (Sikh temple), amidst the spread of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), in Ghaziabad, India, May 6, 2021. REUTERS/Danish Siddiqui

India's main opposition leader Rahul Gandhi warned on Friday that unless the deadly second Covid-19 wave sweeping the country was brought under control it would decimate India as well as threaten the rest of the world.

In a letter, Gandhi implored Prime Minister Narendra Modi to prepare for another national lockdown, accelerate a country-wide vaccination programme and scientifically track the virus and its mutations.

Gandhi said the world's second-most populous nation had a responsibility in "a globalised and interconnected world" to stop the "explosive" growth of Covid-19 within its borders.

"India is home to one out of every six human beings on the planet. The pandemic has demonstrated that our size, genetic diversity and complexity make India fertile ground for the virus to rapidly mutate, transforming itself into a more contagious and more dangerous form," wrote Gandhi.

"Allowing the uncontrollable spread of the virus in our country will be devastating not only for our people but also for the rest of the world."

India's highly infectious Covid-19 variant B.1.617 has already spread to other countries such as Britain, forcing nations to cut or restrict movements from India.

In the past week, India has reported an extra 1.5 million new infections and record daily death tolls as its hospitals run out of beds and medical oxygen. Since the start of the pandemic, it has reported 21.49 million cases and 234,083 deaths. It currently has 3.6 million active cases.

Modi has been widely criticised for not acting sooner to suppress the second wave, after religious festivals and political rallies drew tens of thousands of people in recent weeks and became "super spreader" events.

His government has also been criticised for lifting social restrictions too soon following the first wave and for delays in the country's vaccination programme, which medical experts say is India's only hope of controlling the second Covid-19 wave.

While India is the world's biggest vaccine maker, it is struggling to produce and distribute enough doses to stem the wave of Covid-19.

Modi has stressed that Indian states must keep up vaccination rates. Although the country has administered at least 157 million vaccine doses, its rate of inoculation has fallen sharply in recent days.

"After having achieved a rate of around 4 million a day, we are now down to 2.5 million per day due to vaccine shortages," Amartya Lahiri, an economics professor at University of British Columbia was quoted as saying in the Mint newspaper.

"The 5 million a day target is the lower bound of what we have to aim for, since even at that rate, it will take a year for us to get everyone two doses. The situation unfortunately is very grim."

Record Infections

India reported another record daily rise in coronavirus cases, 414,188, on Friday, bringing total new cases for the week to 1.57 million. Deaths from Covid-19 rose by 3,915 to 234,083.

Medical experts say the real extent of Covid-19 in India is five to 10 times the official tallies.

India's healthcare system is crumbling under the weight of patients, with hospitals running out of beds and medical oxygen. Morgues and crematoriums can not handle the number of dead and makeshift funeral pyres burn in parks and carparks.

Prominent US disease modeller Chris Murray, from the University of Washington, said the sheer magnitude of infections in India in a short period of time suggests an "escape variant" may be overpowering any prior immunity from natural infections.

Infections are now spreading from overcrowded cities to remote rural villages that are home to nearly 70% of the 1.3 billion population.

Although northern and western India bear the brunt of the disease, southern India now seems to be turning into the new epicentre. The share of the five southern states in the country's daily surge in infections rose from 28% to 33% in the first seven days of May, data shows.

In the southern city of Chennai, only one in a hundred oxygen supported beds and two in a hundred beds in intensive care units (ICUs) were vacant on Thursday, from a vacancy rate of over 20% each two weeks ago, government data showed.

In India's tech capital Bengaluru, also in the south, only 23 of the 590 beds in ICUs were vacant, and only 1 in 50 beds with a ventilator were vacant, a situation officials say points to an impending crisis.

The test-positivity rate — the percentage of people tested who are found to have the disease — in the city of 12.5 million has tripled to almost 39% as of Wednesday, from about 13% two weeks ago, data showed.

Bengaluru has 325,000 active Covid-19 cases, with demand for ICU and high-dependency unit (HDU) beds up more than 20 fold, said H. M. Prasanna, president of the Private Hospitals and Nursing Homes Association in Karnataka state, which includes Bengaluru.

"Every patient coming to the hospital needs a ICU or a HDU bed...that is why patients are running from one hospital to another searching for an ICU bed," he said.

"There is also short supply of medical oxygen...Most of the small hospitals now who can't procure oxygen on a daily basis are refusing to admit Covid patients."

World+Biz

Rahul Gandhi / 'explosive' / Covid / threatens / India / world

Comments

While most comments will be posted if they are on-topic and not abusive, moderation decisions are subjective. Published comments are readers’ own views and The Business Standard does not endorse any of the readers’ comments.

Top Stories

  • US President Joe Biden meets with Chinese President Xi Jinping during a virtual summit from the Roosevelt Room of the White House in Washington on Nov. 15, 2021. MANDEL NGAN/AFP VIA GETTY IMAGES/Foreign Policy
    Is Biden missing a chance to engage China?
  • Representative Photo: Pixabay.
    India to limit sugar exports in risk to global food prices
  • Muhammad Abdul Mazid, Former chairman, National Board of Revenue. TBS Sketch
    Revenue growth in FY22 only because import costs have surged

MOST VIEWED

  • A medical worker takes a swab sample from a person for a nucleic acid test at a makeshift testing site, amid the coronavirus disease (Covid-19) outbreak, in Beijing, China May 23, 2022. REUTERS/Tingshu Wang
    Beijing ramps up Covid quarantine, Shanghai residents decry uneven rules
  • A vial labelled with the Pfizer-BioNTech coronavirus disease (Covid-19) vaccine is seen in this illustration picture taken March 19, 2021. Photo :Reuters
    Pfizer says 3 Covid shots protect children under 5
  • A medical worker takes a swab sample from a person for a nucleic acid test at a makeshift testing site, amid the coronavirus disease (Covid-19) outbreak, in Beijing, China May 23, 2022. REUTERS/Tingshu Wang
    Beijing urges millions to keep working from home amid Covid outbreak menace
  • Picture: PTI
    Saudi Arabia bans travel to India, 15 other countries over Covid outbreaks
  • A person in personal protective equipment (PPE) walks a dog at a resident community, as the second stage of a two-stage lockdown has been launched to curb the spread of the coronavirus disease (Covid-19) in Shanghai, China April 3, 2022. REUTERS/Aly Song
    Shanghai reopens some public transport, still on high Covid alert
  • Workers in protective suit spray disinfectant at a community, during the lockdown to curb the spread of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in Shanghai, China, April 5, 2022. REUTERS/Aly Song
    Dynamic zero-Covid approach: China's choice to safeguard lives, underpin growth

Related News

  • India to limit sugar exports in risk to global food prices
  • Beijing ramps up Covid quarantine, Shanghai residents decry uneven rules
  • Climate change boosted odds of recent deadly heat in India, Pakistan
  • Investcorp targets $400 million at Indian school infrastructure, warehousing
  • US considering $4B additional support for India

Features

The balcony railings of the Boro Sardar Bari in Sonargaon. Made of cast iron, these railings feature vertical posts with intricate designs on top. Photo: Noor-A-Alam

The evolution of railing and grille designs

8h | Habitat
A Russian army service member fires a howitzer during drills at the Kuzminsky range in the southern Rostov region, Russia January 26, 2022. REUTERS/Sergey Pivovarov/File Photo

3 months of Ukraine war : Miscalculations, resistance and redirected focus

9h | Analysis
Musk is denying the sexual harassment allegation that surfaced this week. Photo: Bloomberg

Elon Musk’s crazily banal week 

1d | Panorama
Asus Zenbook 14 Flip OLED: A touch of brilliance to your life

Asus Zenbook 14 Flip OLED: A touch of brilliance to your life

1d | Brands

More Videos from TBS

NBR discourages transaction in cash to bring transparency in tax collection

NBR discourages transaction in cash to bring transparency in tax collection

32m | Videos
Effect of commodity price hike on lower income people

Effect of commodity price hike on lower income people

3h | Videos
The story of an 8 thousand gramophone records collector

The story of an 8 thousand gramophone records collector

4h | Videos
How to maintain a good relationship with colleagues

How to maintain a good relationship with colleagues

9h | Videos

Most Read

1
Tk100 for bike, Tk2,400 for bus to cross Padma Bridge
Bangladesh

Tk100 for bike, Tk2,400 for bus to cross Padma Bridge

2
A packet of US five-dollar bills is inspected at the Bureau of Engraving and Printing in Washington March 26, 2015. REUTERS/Gary Cameron
Banking

Dollar hits Tk100 mark in open market

3
Bangladesh at risk of losing ownership of Banglar Samriddhi
Bangladesh

Bangladesh at risk of losing ownership of Banglar Samriddhi

4
PK Halder: How a scamster rose from humble beginnings to a Tk11,000cr empire
Crime

PK Halder: How a scamster rose from humble beginnings to a Tk11,000cr empire

5
BSEC launches probe against Abul Khayer Hero and allies
Stocks

BSEC launches probe against Abul Khayer Hero and allies

6
The reception is a volumetric box-shaped room that has two glass walls on both the front and back ends and the other two walls are adorned with interior plants, wood and aluminium screens. Photo: Noor-A-Alam
Habitat

The United House: Living and working inside nature

The Business Standard
Top
  • Home
  • Entertainment
  • Sports
  • About Us
  • Bangladesh
  • International
  • Privacy Policy
  • Comment Policy
  • Contact Us
  • Economy
  • Sitemap
  • RSS

Contact Us

The Business Standard

Main Office -4/A, Eskaton Garden, Dhaka- 1000

Phone: +8801847 416158 - 59

Send Opinion articles to - oped.tbs@gmail.com

For advertisement- sales@tbsnews.net

Copyright © 2022 THE BUSINESS STANDARD All rights reserved. Technical Partner: RSI Lab