A health worker prepares a dose of Covid-19 vaccine at the heath centre in the village of Bazrak, Uttar Pradesh, India, on May 17 2021. Picture: BLOOMBERG/ANINDITO MUKHERJEE
Many people said the scale of the crisis is much bigger than official numbers reveal, with villagers afraid to leave their homes even if they have fevers and local authorities failing to properly record virus fatalities. India reported 274,390 deaths since the start of the pandemic, according to figures from the Health Ministry.
During the recent election to appoint village heads, many poll workers became infected — including Kumarsain Nain, who caught the virus along with his 31-year-old son. Unable to walk and gasping for breath, Nain’s family rushed him in April to a nearby hospital after they were unable to find an ambulance with oxygen support, said another son, Praveen Kumar.
Baijayant “Jay” Panda, a senior official with Modi’s BJP, told Bloomberg Television on Monday the latest virus wave had been a “humbling experience,” but pointed to a significant vaccination rollout and the provision of shots to more than 80 countries in a global outreach effort. As leaders in Delhi struggle to contain the crisis, horrifying scenes are playing out across India. Last week in the eastern state of Bihar, residents woke up to find as many as 70 bloated bodies floating in the Ganges River. With crematoriums overflowing as the death toll surges, they feared these bodies were Covid-19 victims whose families could not properly lay them to rest. More corpses have since been reported along the river.
Their religious practices are killing them. Their millions of gods can't save them from the scourge.
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