India must prepare for an 'onslaught' as one of Asia's biggest slums reports first Covid death - migrant exodus a 'disaster' / Social distancing is good. But get ready for a surge

By Dilip -

Migrant exodus a 'disaster'
Threatening to derail those efforts is the tens of thousands of migrant workers who fled India's largest cities looking to return to their rural homes after the nationwide lockdown left them without jobs or pay. With no food, shelter or savings, thousands of vulnerable people are making the long journey home on foot. On Sunday, Modi urged all states to seal their borders to stop the virus being imported into rural areas. 

Indian doctors say the situation could turn into a humanitarian crisis if the migrants are not cared for. "This is our darkest hour," said Dr. Rajesh Parikh, director of medical research at Mumbai's Jaslok Hospital and Research Centre. "They build our homes, our factories, our very nation with their bare hands, and now we have forsaken them."

India's poorest 'fear hunger may kill us before coronavirus'
Social distancing is good. But get ready for a surge

There are fears that if the migrants traveled back to their villages and an outbreak occurred there, the limited medical facilities in rural areas would not be able to cope. "This is very serious because it may negate a huge part of the benefits of the lockdown. We should not have let it happen," Trehan said. "The sooner we can disperse this whole thing -- find the location for them to be transported and quarantined, that's the best we can do right now," he said. But it may already to be too late to prevent an outbreak....
https://edition.cnn.com/2020/04/03/asia/india-doctors-coronavirus-intl-hnk/index.html

 see also

Mike Davis on COVID-19: Impact on the global poor / Capitalism vs human survival
Just as there are no atheists on a sinking ship, there are no free-marketeers in a pandemic // “Chinese Virus,” World Market
Sonia Shah: Think Exotic Animals Are to Blame for the Coronavirus? Think Again // Naomi Klein: Coronavirus Is the Perfect Disaster for Disaster Capitalism
Dismantling democracy? Virus used as excuse to quell dissent...
Noam Chomsky: Internationalism or Extinction (Universalizing Resistance)
Sanjay Srivastava - India’s anti-COVID strategy is premised on a mistaken idea and a pretence


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