Covid-19 update
Why India is shattering global infection records
The world’s fastest pace of spreading infections and the highest daily increase in coronavirus cases are pushing India further into a deepening and deadly health care crisis.
India is massive — it’s the world’s second-most populous country with nearly 1.4 billion people — and its size presents extraordinary challenges to fighting COVID-19.
Some 2.7 million vaccine doses are given daily, but that’s still less than 10% of its people who’ve gotten their first shot. Overall, India has confirmed 15.9 million cases of infection, the second highest after the United States, and 184,657 deaths.
Also Read: India records world's highest single-day spike in Covid cases
The latest surge has driven India’s fragile health systems to the breaking point : Understaffed hospitals are overflowing with patients. Medical oxygen is in short supply. Intensive care units are full. Nearly all ventilators are in use, and the dead are piling up at crematoriums and graveyards.
HOW DID WE GET HERE?
Authorities were lulled into believing the worst was behind them when cases started to recede in September.
Cases dipped for 30 consecutive weeks before starting to rise in mid-February, and experts say the country failed to seize the opportunity to augment healthcare infrastructure and aggressively vaccinate.
“We were so close to success,” said Bhramar Mukherjee, a biostatistician at the University of Michigan who has been tracking India’s pandemic.
Despite warnings and advice that precautions were needed, authorities were unprepared for the magnitude of the surge, said K Srinath Reddy, president of the Public Health Foundation of India.
Critics have pointed to the government deciding to not pause Hindu religious festivals or elections, and experts say that these may have exacerbated the surge.
“Authorities across India, without exception, put public health priorities on the back burner,” Reddy said.
Consequently, India’s 7-day rolling average of confirmed daily new cases has risen over the past two weeks from 6.75 new cases per 100,000 people on April 6 to 18.04 new cases per 100,000 people on April 20, possibly driven by new variants of the virus, including one that was first detected in India, experts say.
Also Read: Indian capital gasps for oxygen
India’s top health official Rajesh Bhushan would not speculate Wednesday why authorities could have been better prepared, saying: “Today is not the time to go into why did we miss, or did we miss, did we prepare?”
WHY IS INDIA’S HEALTH SYSTEM COLLAPSING?
India only spends a fraction of its gross domestic product on its health system, lower than most major economies.
As the virus took hold last year, India imposed a harsh, nationwide lockdown for months to prevent hospitals from being overwhelmed. This brought terrible hardship to millions, but also bought time to implement measures to plug critical gaps, like hiring additional health care workers on short-term contracts, establishing field hospitals and installing hospital beds in banquet halls.
But authorities didn’t take a long-term view of the pandemic, said Dr. Vineeta Bal, who studies immune systems at the Indian Institute of Science Education and Research in Pune city.
Suggestions for permanent improvements like adding capacity to existing hospitals or hiring more epidemiologists to help track the virus were widely ignored, she said. Now authorities are scrambling to resuscitate many emergency measures that had been ended once the numbers fell.
A year ago, India was able to avoid the shortages of medical oxygen tthat plagued Latin Americ and Africa after it converted industrial oxygen manufacturing systems into a medical-grade network.
But many facilities went back to supplying oxygen to industries and now several Indian states face such shortages that the Health Ministry has urged hospitals to implement rationing.
The government in October began building new plants to produce medical oxygen, but now, some six months later, it remains unclear whether any have come on line, with the Health Ministry saying they were being “closely reviewed for early completion.”
Tanks of oxygen are being shuttled across the country to hotspots to keep up with the demand, and several state governments have alleged that many have been intercepted by other states en route to be used to meet local needs.
WHAT COMES NEXT?
India is faced with the massive challenge of trying to prevent its health care system from further collapse until enough people can be vaccinated to significantly reduce the flow of patients.
The good news is that India is a major vaccine producer, but even after halting large exports of vaccines in March to divert them to domestic use, there are still questions of whether manufactures can produce enough fast enough.
“Vaccination is one way to slow down the spread — but this really depends on the speed and availability of the shots,” said Reddy of the Public Health Foundation.
Already several states have said they have shortages in vaccines — although the federal government denies it.
India said last week it would allow the use of all COVID-19 shots that have been greenlit by the World Health Organization or regulators in the United States, Europe, Britain or Japan.
On Monday, it said it would soon expand its vaccination program from people aged 45 to include all adults, some 900 million people — well more than the entire population of the entire European Union and United States combined.
Meanwhile, Reddy said some states have had to implement new lockdowns but long-term, it was up to individuals as well to do their part.
“As a society, it’s crucial that we maintain public health measures like masking, physical distancing and avoiding crowds,” he said.
India records world's highest single-day spike in Covid cases
India on Thursday recorded the world's highest single-day spike in Covid-19 cases, with over three lakh fresh infections in the past 24 hours.
According to the Indian Health Ministry, as many as 3,15,660 cases and 2,091 deaths were registered in the country in 24 hours as of April 21 midnight.
To date, no country in the world has reported such a high number of active Covid cases in a single day. Prior to India, only the US logged a little over 3 lakh cases in a single day, on January 2, 2021.
With the new infections and deaths, India's total caseload has now reached 1,59,24,914 while the fatalities from the infection have mounted to 1,84,662.
Maharashtra in western India is the country's worst-hit state, with 67,468 fresh infections in a single day -- thus accounting for nearly 22% of the new cases.
Also Read: India continues to record over 200,000 new COVID-19 cases
Maharashtra, where a strict lockdown has been enforced to contain the spread of Covid, is followed by Uttar Pradesh in northern India, with 33,214 new cases, and Delhi with 24,638 fresh infections.
The country is, in fact, witnessing a ferocious second wave of Covid and has been reporting over 2 lakh new cases daily since April 15.
On Wednesday, the High Court in Delhi lashed out at the federal government for for the shortage of oxygen at hospitals in the national capital. "We don't care... beg, borrow, steal or requisition new plants if you want," the court told the government.
Also Read:India sees new record of 184,372 COVID-19 cases in 24 hrs
The court also took cognizance of the deaths of as many as 24 Covid-19 patients due to disruption in oxygen supply at a government hospital in Maharashtra.
Those who lost their lives at Zakir Hussain Municipal Hospital in the state's Nashik district were on life support.
In fact, oxygen supply to the Covid ward at the hospital ran out following leakage of the life-supporting gas from a tanker that was brought to replenish the cylinders at the medical facility.
UNB had earlier reported about the oxygen crisis in India, particularly in the national capital.
Global Covid-19 cases top 142 million
Covid-19 variants seem to be spreading around the world like wildfire, even with mass inoculations underway. The overall number of coronavirus cases has now topped the grim milestone of 142 million, according to Johns Hopkins University.
The total case count and fatalities stand at 142,642,783 and 3,041,541, respectively, as of Wednesday morning, as per the university data. The US, India and Brazil are the worst-affected countries in terms of confirmed cases, followed by France, Russia and the UK.
Also Read: Covid-19: Global cases near 142 million, deaths top 3 million
The US has registered 31,792,013 cases as of Wednesday morning, while the death toll from the virus has now climbed to 568,460, according to Johns Hopkins statistics.
Neighbouring India, which has been logging more than two lakh new cases daily for the past several days, on Tuesday recorded a whopping 15,321,089 cases and 180,530 fatalities in 24 hours, the country's government said.
In Brazil, the total caseload has reached 14,043,076 while 378,003 people have died from the virus so far. France has recorded 5,401,305 cases, while Russia and the UK have registered 4,665,553 and 4,408,644 infections, respectively, to date.
Situation in Bangladesh
After recording over 100 daily Covid-19 deaths for four consecutive days, Bangladesh registered 91 more fatalities in 24 hours till Tuesday morning, showing a marginal fall in the fatality figures.
Besides, 4,559 people got infected by the deadly virus during the period, said a Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS) handout.
On Monday, the country broke all the previous records of Covid-19 deaths, registering 112 fatalities. The latest figure pushed up the death tally to 10,588, with a mortality rate of 1.45 percent.
Bangladesh reported its first coronavirus cases on March 8, 2020, and the first death on March 18 that year. Health authorities have so far confirmed 727,780 cases. Among them, 628,111 people -- 86.31 percent of all patients -- have recovered.
Lockdown
A ‘strict’ lockdown is currently underway across the country, but people still seem to be apathetic towards health guidelines and safety rules. The government has extended the ongoing lockdown by another week from April 22 in an effort to bring the Covid-19 situation under control.
Cause of concern
Concerns about the spread of more contagious and deadlier variants of the virus have been raised by experts. A research suggests that the South African variant has accounted for 81 percent of the positive cases in Dhaka since the third week of March this year.
That is not good news for Bangladesh because the country has managed to procure only the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine so far, which offers as little as 10 percent protection against the South African variant, according to researchers.
Vaccination efforts
Last year, Bangladesh inked an agreement with the Serum Institute of India for acquiring 30 million doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine.
A countrywide inoculation drive was launched on February 7. So far, 57,29,147 people have received the first dose and 15,07,287 have got their second jab, according to official figures.
Amid growing calls for speeding up the inoculation programme, Bangladesh's vaccine supplier India has shifted from being a mass vaccine exporter to a major importer, after witnessing a record number of daily cases in the past couple of weeks.
Although Bangladesh is yet to receive its March consignment of five million doses, Foreign Minister AK Abdul Momen has said the jabs will arrive as promised by India.
END/UNB/MAS/JM
Covid-19 in Bangladesh: Daily death toll falls, but it’s still 91
After recording over 100 daily Covid-19 deaths for four consecutive days, Bangladesh registered 91 more fatalities in 24 hours till Tuesday morning, showing a little bit of fall in the death toll.
Besides, 4,559 people got infected by the deadly virus during the period, said a handout of the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS).
Also read:No risk of contracting Covid-19 due to vaccination: DGHS
On Monday, the country had broken all the previous records of Covid-19 deaths registering 112 fatalities.
The latest figure pushed up the death tally to 10,588 with a mortality rate of 1.45 percent.
The fresh Covid-19 cases were reported after testing 27,056 samples. The infection rate dropped to 16.85 percent from 17.68 percent on Monday, the handout said.
Bangladesh reported its first coronavirus cases on March 8, 2020, while the first death on March 18 that year.
Health authorities have so far confirmed 727,780 cases. Among them, 628,111 people - 86.31 percent of all patients – have recovered.
The virus claimed 568 lives in January this year, 281 in February and 638 in March.
Lockdown
A ‘strict’ lockdown is underway across the country at the moment but people still seem apathetic towards health guidelines and safety rules.
The government has extended the ongoing lockdown by another week from April 22 in an effort to bring the situation under control.
Cause of concern
Concerns about the spread of more contagious and deadlier variants of the virus were raised by experts.
Research by the icddr,b has found that the South African variant accounted for 81 percent of the positive cases in Dhaka since the third week of March this year.
India's capital to lock down as nation's virus cases top 15M
New Delhi was being put under a weeklong lockdown Monday night as an explosive surge in coronavirus cases pushed the India’s capital’s health system to its limit.
Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal said in a news conference the national capital was facing shortages of oxygen and some medicine.
Also Read: Night curfew in Indian capital till April 30
“I do not say that the system has collapsed, but it has reached its limits,” Kejriwal said, adding that harsh measures were necessary to “prevent a collapse of the health system.”
According to India’s health ministry on Monday, Delhi reported 25,462 cases and 161 deaths in the past 24 hours.
India overall reported 273,810 new infections on Monday, its highest daily rise since the start of the pandemic and now has reported more than 15 million infections, a total second only to the United States.
The Health Ministry also reported 1,619 deaths from COVID-19 in the past 24 hours, pushing the toll over 178,769. India has the fourth highest number of deaths after the U.S., Brazil and Mexico — though, with nearly 1.4 billion people, it has a much larger population than any of those countries.
The soaring cases and deaths come just months after India thought it had seen the worst of the pandemic, but experts say even these figures are likely an undercount.
Similar virus curbs already have been imposed in the worst-hit state of Maharashtra, home to India’s financial capital, Mumbai. The closure of most industries, businesses and public places Wednesday night is to last 15 days.
Fresh lockdown from Apr 22: State Minister
The government has decided to enforce a fresh countrywide lockdown for a week from April 22 as coronavirus cases keep rising in the country.
“The lockdown will remain in force from April 22 to 28 with the same restrictions imposed in the previous week. It’ll be a tougher one,” said State Minister for Public Administration Farhad Hossian.
The summary of today’s decision has been sent to the Prime Minister and a gazette will be issued once it gets her approval, he said.
The ongoing lockdown will end on April 21.
Also Read: Bangladesh braces for 'another weeklong lockdown'
As coronavirus cases continue to rise alarmingly from late March, the government imposed an apparently loose nationwide lockdown for one week from April 5 as part of its move to contain its spread.
But the government allowed the resumption of public transport in city corporation areas from April 7 as well as reopening shops and shopping malls for five days from April 9 in the face of protests against the lockdown.
A stricter lockdown was declared from April 14 to 21 and the Cabinet division issued a notification in this regard.
Restrictions as per previous notification
All modes of public transports, including those of roads, riverways, railways and air, will remain suspended during the lockdown.
But the offices related to air, maritime and river and land ports will remain out of the preview of the lockdown.
However, the restriction will not be effective in the case of carrying goods, emergency services and production.
The offices, staffers and vehicles of the organisations providing emergency services, including law enforcement, agricultural products (fertilizer, seeds, pesticides, machinaris), crops, food-laden vehicles, relief distribution, health services, health workers involved in mass inoculation, power, water, gas, fire services, port activities, media (print and electronic media), private security management, telephone, and postal services will remain out of the purview of the restriction.
Also Read: Lockdown day 3: Dhaka streets largely deserted
Industries and factories
Industries and factories will remain open on condition of maintaining health protocols. The respective factories or industries must take measures to carry their employees in their own vehicles.
Public movement
Public movement will be restricted and no one will be allowed to go outside except for certain emergency needs (to purchase medicines, daily essentials, to take medical services and burial/ cremation of dead bodies, taking Covid-19 jabs etc).
Also Read: Bangladesh put under complete lockdown amid Covid spike
Hotels and restaurants
Hotels and restaurants can operate from 12 pm to 7 pm and 12 am to 6 am with takeaway/online services only.
Markets and shops
All the shopping malls and markets will remain closed during this period.
Daily essential items like kitchen items can be sold and purchased from open spaces from 9 am to 3 pm complying with health protocols. Local administrations and the authorities concerned will ensure it.
The local administration concerned will take steps in a coordinated way for carrying agricultural workers for harvesting Boro paddy.
District and field administrations will take measures to enforce the directives in a coordinated way. Law enforcement agencies will strengthen patrol and take legal action against those who will violate the directives.
The Director General of the Directorate General of Health Services will take necessary steps to engage law enforcers and local administration on behalf of him.
Worsening Covid situation
Bangladesh saw its daily deaths from coronavirus shatter the local record yet again with 102 fatalities between Saturday and Sunday morning.
It was the third consecutive day that the country registered more than 100 deaths in 24 hours.
The latest fatalities pushed up the death tally to 10,385 with a mortality rate of 1.44 percent, according to a handout from the Directorate General of Health Services.
Data released by the government show a downward trend in tests and new cases as the number of deaths and recoveries rise steadily.
Bangladesh reported its first coronavirus cases on March 8, 2020, and the first death on March 18 that year.
The country has so far confirmed 718,950 cases. But 614,936 people – 85.53 percent of all patients – have recovered so far.
Bangladesh inked an agreement with the Serum Institute of India Pvt Ltd for 30 million doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine.
A countrywide inoculation drive was launched on Feb 7. Until Sunday morning, 7,116,946 have registered for the vaccine.
So far, 57,14,090 people have received the first dose and 13,66,609 have got their second jab, according to official figures.
Global Covid-19 cases top 141 million
As coronavirus is wreaking havoc around the world, over 141 million people have been infected with the virus with more than 3 million fatalities.
The total caseload from the virus reached 141, 124, 378 while the death tally hit 3,017, 555 as of Monday, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University (JHU).
Also Read: Global Covid-19 cases approaches 139 million
The US has logged 31,669,880 cases and the death toll in the US climbed to 567,217, the highest number of deaths in the world.
The US has crossed the grim milestone of 30 million cases on March 25.
Besides, Brazil's COVID-19 death toll on Sunday reached 373,335 after registering another 1,657 fatalities, the country's ministry of health reported.
According to the ministry, another 42,980 cases were registered, bringing the total number of cases in the country to 13,943,071.
Also Read: Global Covid-19 cases top 140 mn with over 3 mn fatalities
India has been hit hard by the pandemic recently as the country has logged over 2 lakh Covid-19 cases for the last couple of days.
Now the total caseload in India has reached 14,788,109 while the death toll from the virus mounted to 177, 150 as of Monday morning.
Covid-19 situation in Bangladesh
Bangladesh saw its daily deaths from coronavirus shatter the local record yet again with 102 fatalities between Saturday and Sunday morning.
It was the third consecutive day that the country registered more than 100 deaths in a 24-hour period.
The latest fatalities pushed up the death tally to 10,385 with a mortality rate of 1.44 percent, according to a handout from the Directorate General of Health Services.
Data released by the government show a downward trend in tests and new cases as the number of deaths and recoveries rise steadily.
Bangladesh reported its first coronavirus cases on March 8, 2020, and the first death on March 18 that year.
The country has so far confirmed 718,950 cases. But 614,936 people – 85.53 percent of all patients – have recovered so far.
Bangladesh inked an agreement with the Serum Institute of India Pvt Ltd for 30 million doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine.
A countrywide inoculation drive was launched on Feb 7. Until Sunday morning, 7,116,946 have registered for the vaccine.
So far, 57,14,090 people have received the first dose and 13,66,609 have got their second jab, according to official figures.
Bangladesh braces for ‘another weeklong lockdown’
Bangladesh is likely to go under another weeklong lockdown right after the ongoing one as the Covid-19 situation keeps worsening in the country.
“The ongoing nationwide lockdown is likely to be extended for another week, and the decision in this regard will come within a day or two,” State Minister for Public Administration Farhad Hossain told UNB on Sunday.
Also read:Bangladesh put under complete lockdown amid Covid spike
“We haven’t yet got any decision about a fresh lockdown. There’ll be a meeting on Monday over the current Covid-19 situation. But an advice is there over extending the ongoing lockdown,” the State Minister added.
“The decision will be known within 1-2 days as the coronavirus infections keep spreading. If people follow health guidelines properly and stay home, then the infection rate will come down,” he said.
Farhad Hossain said people should be more careful about Covid-19 as there is no alternative to awareness.
As the Covid-19 infections are surging, a decision on extending the ongoing lockdown may come, said some high officials at the Cabinet Division wishing anonymity.
Also read:Fresh lockdown in Bangladesh: Experts skeptical about ...
They said a meeting is scheduled to be held on Monday in this regard where the representatives of other ministries concerned will be present along with the members of the National Technical Advisory Committee on Covid-19.
Bangladesh sees 100+ Covid deaths for 2nd straight day
Bangladesh registered a single-day death of 101 from Covid-19 for the second consecutive day in 24 hours until Saturday, pushing up the total fatalities to 10,283.
The country shattered its previous all records of single-day death count with 101 fatalities on Friday.
With the latest figure, the mortality rate rose to 1.44 percent, the Directorate General of Health Services said in a handout.
Also Read: Covid-19: Bangladesh's death toll crosses grave milestone.
However, 3,473 new cases were detected during the period as the number of tests declined significantly in the last 5-6 days. Only 16, 185 samples were tested during the period.
The handout said the daily infection rate fell to 21.46 percent from Friday’s 23.36 percent.
Bangladesh reported its first coronavirus cases on March 8 last year and the first death on the 18th of that month.
With the new cases, the total caseload reached 715,252 while the total number of recoveries was 608,815, (85.12 percent of all patients) including 5,907 in the last 24 hours.
1,237 lost lives in 17 days
The virus claimed 568 lives in January this year, 281 in February and 638 in March.
Between April 1 and April 17, the country registered 1,237 deaths and 100,484 new cases.
On Thursday, the country recorded 94 deaths, a day after registering the highest number of single-day fatalities (96). The figure was 69 on Tuesday, 83 on Monday, 78 on Sunday and 77 on Saturday.
Also Read: Day 4 of lockdown: Dhaka wears a deserted look
81 pc victims above 50
Of the latest victims, 69 are men and 32 are women. Of them, 99 died at hospitals.
Fifty-eight out of the 101 victims are above the age of 60. So far, 7,635 men and 2,648 women have died from the virus.
In terms of age group, 56.36 percent are aged more than 60 years while 24.62 percent are aged between 51 and 60 years. Together, these two groups account for 80.98 percent of the total fatalities.
Dhaka has recorded 58.15 percent of the fatalities with 67 deaths, followed by Chattogram’s 18 percent fatality rate with 23 deaths.
On Saturday morning, there were 157 ICU beds available in the country.
There are 10,667 general beds for coronavirus patients and 5,423 of them are currently occupied. On the other hand, there are only 823 ICU beds and 666 of them are occupied at the moment.
Lockdown: Many in Dhaka ignore restrictions in open defiance
Although the streets in Dhaka city had taken a deserted look on the first day of the nationwide fresh eight-day lockdown on Wednesday, the movement of people, private vehicles and rickshaws increased on its second day on Thursday.
Shops and shopping malls remained closed as the government has enforced a stricter lockdown to stem the spread of Covid-19 cases.
Also Read: Lockdown: 60,000 people register for movement pass
Rickshaws were seen plying roads in different areas, including Dilu Road, Mohakhali, Bijoy Sarani and Manik Mia Avenue as people are hiring the slow-moving three wheelers to reach their destinations in absence of alternative transports.
Police and Rab members were seen monitoring the movement of vehicles and people after setting up check-posts at different parts of the capital.
They were asking people why they got out of home. Those who were failing to show the ‘movement pass’ or any valid reason of going out were being fined.
Asaduzzaman, a traffic Inspector in Mohakhali area, said: “We don’t allow anyone to move without valid any reason. Those who’re failing to show any valid reason are either sued or fined. However, we didn’t put any pressure on anyone on humanitarian grounds.”
A long queue of vehicles was seen on Kuril Biswa Road as police were checking each vehicle.
However, kitchen markets were found violating the government directives as they are not seen running their business in open spaces. Besides, some were seen ignoring health guidelines.
Amid the devastating Covid-19 situation, the government enforced a fresh eight-day lockdown on Tuesday to contain the spread of coronavirus.
The Cabinet division issued a notification in this regard on Monday. The lockdown will remain in force from 6:00 am Wednesday (April 14) till April 21 midnight.
Lockdown instructions
Under the fresh lockdown, all the government, semi-government, autonomous, private offices and financial institutions will remain closed.
All modes of public transports, including those of road, river, railway and air, will remain suspended during the lockdown.
However, the restriction will not be effective in the case of carrying goods, emergency services and production. But industries and factories will remain open on condition of maintaining health protocols.
Also Read: Relaxed lockdown taken as license to ignore social distancing
The offices, staffers and vehicles of the organisations providing emergency services, including law enforcement, agricultural products (fertilizer, seeds, pesticides, machinaris), crops, food laden vehicles, relief distribution, health services, health workers involved in mass inoculation, power, water, gas, fire services, port activities, media (print and electronic media), private security management, telephone, and postal services will remain out of the purview of the restriction.
People’s movement will be restricted and no one will be allowed to go outside except for emergency needs (to purchase medicines, daily essentials, to take medical services and burial/ cremation of dead bodies, taking Covid-19 jabs etc).
Hotels and restaurants can operate with takeaway/online services only from 12 pm to 7 pm and 12 am to 6 am. No one will be allowed to take food sitting in hotels or restaurants.
The government imposed a 'loose' nationwide lockdown for one week from April 5 as part of its move to contain the spike in both coronavirus infections and fatalities.
But the government allowed the resumption of public transport in city corporation areas from April 7 as well as reopening shops and shopping malls for five days from April 9 in the face of protests against the lockdown.
The lockdown remained in force until April 13 (Tuesday).