Alarming news about the COVID-19 disease comes from Brazil and India, where the infection numbers are high, and the death count grows steadily. It appears that a million people are now infected in Brazil (out of a population of over 211 million). In India, it is difficult to even estimate the number of those infected, since the testing levels are so low, and the data is so poor. One suggestion is that at least eight million people have been infected (out of a population of over 1.3 billion).
The Indian Council of Medical Research’s journal showed that the government’s official report of infections in the country till early May (35,000) actually underestimates the true number of infections (700,000) by at least twenty. The official government numbers report that by June 400,000 people have been infected in the country, but the number of those infected could be as high as eight million if we multiply the official figure by twenty (following the Indian Council of Medical Research’s assessment). The official death count is 13,000, which is not a credible figure. One of the immediate findings of the Indian Council of Medical Research’s study is that the government has not carried out contact tracing with any seriousness. Of the people who tested positive for COVID-19 in the study, the Indian government does not know how 44% of them became infected. Lygia Clark (Brazil), Nostalgia do corpo (‘Nostalgia of the Body’), 1964. Neither in Brazil nor in India have the governments taken a science-based attitude to the virus. In India, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has promoted atmanirbhar (self-sufficiency), asking people to take measures on their own to confront the virus. The central government, it appears, will neither do anything nor be responsible. Medical resources have been funnelled from public healthcare systems to private healthcare over the past decades, which has been callous towards those infected by the virus. Private hospitals and clinics are turning away patients whose symptoms could be controlled using ventilators and oxygen; these patients are largely from the middle class, which means that the plight of the workers has gone unnoticed. Wilcker Morais (Brazil), Capitalism in the Corona Crisis, 2020. When Modi came to office in 2014, his government slashed the health budget by 20% (they have subsequently increased it each year). Today, India dedicates a miniscule amount (1.15%) of its GDP towards the health sector, with the largest amount going to the private sector. Medical costs in India are outrageous, with the out-of-pocket expenditure one of the highest in the world. Even before the emergence of the coronavirus, 57 million Indians were pushed into poverty every year as a result of such medical costs. Under the cover of the lockdown, these governments have attempted to push through the worst of their unpopular agenda – such as attacks on labour rights, the privatisation of healthcare, and severe austerity measures.
--------------------------------- Forwarded Eddie
