“Parking lots and parks have been temporarily converted into crematoriums.”
India has reached a grim state in its fight against the pandemic. Delhi, the capital city of India, experienced a resurgence of Covid-19 cases and deaths in the last few weeks. The city noticed the percentage of positive cases going up to 32.43 per cent. That’s a positive case for every three people tested.
On the 23rd of April, the city recorded a massive one day spike of 24,331 positive cases and 348 deaths.
In an address to the city, Chief Minister, Arvind Kejriwal had said, “If we don’t impose a lockdown now, we might face a bigger calamity.”
The rise of cases in the capital had led to a lockdown for a week starting 19th of April but because of the uncontrollable spread, it has been extended till the 3rd of May. The reported number of average deaths the initial week of lockdown had been 304.
The deaths in the city have led to the creation of temporary cremation sites. The concerned authorities have converted parks and parking lots into cremation grounds because of the massive amount of dead bodies.
According to Aljazeera, the Sarai Kale Khan Cremation site, situated at the Delhi-Noida border, received around 60-70 bodies per day while the actual capacity it can handle is just 22. In anticipation of a much larger death rate, around 100 ‘platforms’ have been built around the site to accommodate the anticipated caseload.
The ‘platforms’ have been assigned to be built by various contactors throughout the state. Pashupati Mandal, one of the assigned contractors, said this about raising the new ‘platforms’ – “Some 20 of these will be ready by night. Another 80 will come up in some more days.”
The sudden rise in cases have put hospitals and medical institutions on its knees.
India is currently fighting the outbreak on multiple fronts. Most cities in the country have gone into complete lockdown to curb the rise in cases. The condition is distressing. Hospitals have run out of oxygen for their own patients and the lack of beds means that hospitals have had to turn away patients who have taken ill.
The emergence of a new strain of the virus has created chaos in the country. The variant is called B.1.617. The dominant strain causing upheaval is suspected to be the variant first found in the UK and it is said to be 60 percent more contagious.
Where did it all go wrong?
India was on track to opening up most of its closed doors. This included theatres, bars and restaurants at full capacity and most recreational activities. Everything changed the moment political agendas were prioritised over the health and safety of the nation. Events leading up to the elections have been cited as one of the reasons for the surge in cases in the country. Prime Minister Modi was at the forefront of the campaigns in Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Puducheery, West Bengal and Assam. Notably, Modi was campaigning mask -less, in front of mass audiences.
The 27th of April set an unwanted record for our country. With a daily death average of 3000, India’s death count surpassed the 2, 00,000 mark. To put this figure into perspective, only three countries have a larger death count than India – The United States (5, 70,000), Brazil (3, 90,000) and Mexico (2, 15,000).
Countries around the World have been watching India during such stressful times. Some of these countries have taken precautions in order to protect themselves. Dubai, UK, Australia, Italy, Canada, Hong Kong, US, have all issued travel restrictions either to or from India.
India Today magazine, reported that Uttar Pradesh is expected to be the next Covid-19 hotspot. The Centre has projected that the state would report an upward trajectory of 1, 90,000 cases per day.
At the meeting between the Prime Minister and the Chief Ministers of the states on the 8th of April, it was also discussed that the current surge of Covid-19 cases would peak in mid-May with an estimated daily count of 5, 00,000 cases.
During that meeting, a sentence stood out, “heavily populated states are at particular risk; and, health infrastructure in states is not adequate enough to cope with the present serious scenario”.
Foreshadowing at its best.