Jeffrey Gettleman & Sameer Yasir: India’s Covid Outbreak Is Now the World’s Fastest-Growing

By Dilip -

India now has the fastest-growing coronavirus caseload of any country in the world, reporting more than 75,000 new infections per day. Crowded cities, lockdown fatigue and a lack of contact tracing have spread Covid-19 to every corner of this country of 1.3 billion people. This week, the authorities said that one-sixth of a tiny tribe on a remote, coral-fringed island had come down with the virus. Health experts say the virus reproduction rate is ticking up as more state governments, desperate to stimulate an ailing economy, are loosening lockdown restrictions, which is spreading the virus further. 

“Everything right now is indicating toward a massive surge in the caseload in coming days,” said Dr. Anant Bhan, a health researcher at Melaka Manipal Medical College in southern India. “What is more worrying is we are inching toward the No. 1 spot globally.” During the strict lockdown that held from late March to late May, most of India’s Covid-19 cases were concentrated in urban areas, Dr. Bhan said. But as restrictions on interstate travel were eased, many people started moving from the cities to rural areas, bringing the virus with them. Some public hospitals have been so overwhelmed that doctors have had to treat patients in the hallways. In some cases, people in critical condition have no place to get help, even if they don’t have the coronavirus...

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/08/28/world/asia/india-coronavirus.html?smid=em-share

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Leon Fink - Socialized Love in the Face of Pandemic // Why the coronavirus could be the tipping point in reshaping the global economy
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