The Lancet: India could see over 1 million Covid deaths by August due to Modi’s “self-inflicted national catastrophe”

By Dilip -

A growing chorus is now seeing India’s second wave of Covid-19 as a governance failure more than anything else. A May 8 editorial in The Lancet, a weekly peer-reviewed medical journal, placed the responsibility of this current Covid-19 disaster in India with prime minister Narendra Modi. In a scathing piece that details the unfathomable devastation in the country, The Lancet wrote that his government “seemed more intent on removing criticism on Twitter than trying to control the pandemic.”

Full text

Titled “India’s Covid-19 Emergency,” the editorial in one of the world’s oldest and best-known general medical journals blamed the government for not paying heed to superspreader events and not preventing the unprecedented surge of Covid-19 cases. Despite warnings about the risks of superspreader events, the government allowed religious festivals to go ahead, drawing millions of people from around the country, along with huge political rallies - conspicuous for their lack of Covid-19 mitigation measures.

The message that Covid-19 was essentially over also slowed the start of India’s Covid-19 vaccination campaign, which has vaccinated less than 2% of the population. At the federal level, India’s vaccination plan soon fell apart. The Lancet believes that in order to come out of this disastrous second wave, India needs to fix its “botched” vaccination drive to begin with....

https://qz.com/india/2006872/lancet-editorial-blames-modi-for-mismanaging-indias-covid-crisis/

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