No beds, no oxygen. How did things get so bad in India? Yesterday, India reported 314,835 new cases of the coronavirus over the previous 24 hours, the highest daily increase recorded anywhere in the world. So, what now for the country facing its largest public health emergency in a generation? The Conversation's Deputy Politics + Society editor Justin Bergman explains.
A year ago, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi's popularity was soaring. His government's initial response to the COVID-19 pandemic was drastic — a nationwide lockdown imposed with just four hours' notice. Yet, the country rallied around him, and his approval ratings reached over 80%. As the country's COVID infections began to fall late last year, however, complacency set in. Not just with the Indian public, but the government itself. Now, India finds itself in the throes of a full-blown crisis — and Modi's government deserves part of the blame. The country set a new global record of 314,000 daily infections this week, and hospitals are running out of beds and oxygen. The situation has grown so dire, people are being forced to buy oxygen cylinders for their loved ones on the black market at greatly inflated costs. In their piece for The Conversation this week [ https://theconversation.cmail20.com/t/r-l-tljkklyk-uidlgxn-y/], Pradeep Taneja, a University of Melbourne Asian politics expert, and Azad Singh Bali, an ANU expert in public policy, look at what went wrong in India over the past few months. Their belief: the government dropped its guard too soon, even boasting about its success at controlling the infection rate and India’s low mortality rate compared to the rest of the world. Modi has appeared unmasked before crowds of thousands at election rallies, while a major Hindu festival became a "super-spreader" event. Australia has responded to the worsening situation in India by cutting the number of incoming flights from the country, while other countries, like Canada and the UK, have banned flights from India altogether. Hassan Vally [https://theconversation.cmail20.com/t/r-l-tljkklyk-uidlgxn-t/], an epidemiologist at La Trobe University, admits he's torn by the Morrison government's decision to designate India as a "high-risk" country and reduce arrivals by 30%. He says he understands the rationale to limit travellers from India from a disease-control perspective. But from a humanitarian perspective, he feels uneasy. And from two academics at Jawaharlal Nehru University in India, we have had other excellent contributions in the past week on why COVID cases are spreading so rapidly [ https://theconversation.cmail20.com/t/r-l-tljkklyk-uidlgxn-d/] and how the poor are growing more anxious and distrustful of the government [ https://theconversation.cmail20.com/t/r-l-tljkklyk-uidlgxn-h/]. As Sujeet Kumar writes [ https://theconversation.cmail20.com/t/r-l-tljkklyk-uidlgxn-k/], "This is the time for Modi to show decisive leadership ... in providing financial assistance to millions of urban poor and helping them reach their home villages with their dignity intact." -- _/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/ _/ FN * फ्रेड्रिक नोरोन्या * فريدريك نورونيا +91-9822122436 _/ See a different Goa here, via _/ https://youtube.com/c/frederickfnnoronha _/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/
