India’s worst-hit state imposes ‘strict’ rules
MUMBAI, April 14, (AP): India’s worst-hit and richest state Maharashtra will impose stricter restrictions for 15 days on Wednesday in an effort to stem the surge of coronavirus infections that is threatening to overcome hospitals.
Top state officials stressed that the closure of most industries, businesses, public places and limits on the movement of people didn’t constitute a lockdown.
Last year, a sudden, harsh, nationwide lockdown left millions jobless overnight. Stranded in cities with no income or food, thousands of migrant workers walked on highways to get home. Since then, state leaders have repeatedly stressed that another lockdown wasn’t on the cards.
The distinction did little to allay Ramachal Yadav’s anxieties. On Wednesday morning, he joined others at a Mumbai railway station getting on a train back home. “There is no work,” said the 45-year-old.
India has detected over 180,000 new infections in the past 24 hours, about a third in Maharashtra state. India has so far confirmed over 13.9 million cases and 172,000 dead in what is likely an undercount.
Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray said that most public places, shops and establishments will be shut starting 8 pm Wednesday, expect essential services like grocery shops and banks.
Although the state has announced a relief package of $728 million that will include assistance for the poor, industry experts say that the new restrictions might prove fatal for businesses that were only just recovering from last year’s economic recession.
“Livelihoods are important, but life is more important,” Thackeray said, echoing a difficult choice faced by other states in India.
The scenes playing out in Maharashtra in the past week mirror those developing in other parts of the country: patients gasping for air turned away from hospitals that are running out of oxygen and weeping families waiting their turn to bid farewell to their loved ones at crematoria.
Compounding concerns is the question of whether India, despite being the world’s largest maker of vaccines, will have enough to immunize its vast population swiftly enough to slow down the virus.
Emergency
India said Tuesday that it would authorize vaccines that had been given an emergency nod by the World Health Organization or regulators in the United States, Europe, Britain or Japan. Indian regulators also approved Russia’s Sputnik V for emergency use. But experts said that the decision was unlikely to have any immediate impact on supplies available in the country.
“All one can think of is that, I hope I don’t fall ill over the next month or so,” said Dr. Vineeta Bal, who studies immune systems at the Indian Institute of Science Education and Research in Pune city in Maharashtra state.
India said Tuesday that it will approve the use of all coronavirus vaccines that have been given an emergency nod by the World Health Organization or regulators in the United States, Europe, Britain or Japan.
India’s Health Ministry said the decision was aimed at hastening the use of shots made in other countries and expanding the “basket of vaccines” available for domestic use. The country of almost 1.4 billion people is seeing a crippling surge of infections that is threatening to overwhelm hospitals in hardhit cities.
The only way out of the crisis, experts say, is to vaccinate more people.
But this has global implications since India is a major vaccine producer and India’s domestic needs have delayed the delivery of shots to the UN-backed COVAX initiative that is aimed at distributing vaccines equitably.
India had earlier given the nod to the AstraZeneca vaccine made by Serum Institute of India and another one made by the Indian company Bharat Biotech.
Now, vaccines that have received emergency use authorization by regulators in the US, Europe, Britain, Japan or the World Health Organization can be used in India. The Health Ministry also said Tuesday that the Russian Sputnik V vaccine had been green-lit for emergency use.
The Health Ministry said that safety will be monitored in the first 100 people who receive these shots, before its use is expanded to include others.
Dr. Shahid Jameel, who studies viruses at India’s Ashoka University, said that while the move was unlikely to help the country deal with the surge it was currently experiencing, it would help in vaccine availability going forward, consequently freeing up vaccines that could then be exported.
He said that this would pave the path for India to use vaccines made by companies with a manufacturing partner in India. For instance, vaccine maker Biological E Ltd is contracted to make the Johnson & Johnson coronavirus vaccine.
Jameel added that this would potentially open up the market for vaccines that require ultra-cold storage facilities to be sold in cities where such facilities are available. Vaccine prices in India are currently capped at 250 rupees or $3.30. This will also free up the government to subsidize the vaccines for the poor, while those can afford to buy more expensive vaccines can do so.
Distribute
Russia has agreements with five Indian pharmaceutical companies to make more than 850 million doses of Sputnik V vaccines in India for the world. It has also inked a deal with Dr Reddy’s Laboratories to conduct late trials and distribute up to 250 million doses in India.
But with four of Russia’s five deals inked in March and April, the doses are likely to be supplied later in the year. Moreover, Russia’s first manufacturing deal with India was with Hetero Biopharma for a 100 million doses — but it is unclear as to whether it has started making doses. Hetero Biopharma didn’t respond to queries by The Associated Press.
Indian government sources said on Wednesday that 1,027 people died due to COVID-19 as 184,372 fresh positive cases were reported from across the country in a span of 24 hours.
Indian Ministry of Health and Family Welfare stated that deaths due to COVID-19 rose to 172,085 while the total positive cases mounted to 13,873,825. The Indian health ministry stated that 12,336,036 people recuperated so far from the pandemic as it spread to 35 Indian states.
India reported another record daily surge in coronavirus infections Monday to pass Brazil as the country with the secondmost reported infections since the pandemic began.
The 168,912 cases added in the last 24 hours pushed India’s total since the pandemic began to 13.5 million, while Brazil has 13.4 million, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University.
India also reported 904 deaths in the past 24 hours, taking its total to 170,179, which is the fourth-highest toll, behind the United States, Brazil and Mexico.
India is experiencing its worst surge of the pandemic, with a seven-day rolling average of more than 130,000 cases per day. Hospitals across the country are becoming overwhelmed with patients, and experts worry the worst is yet to come.
The latest surge also coincides with the shortage of vaccines in some Indian states, including western Maharashtra state, home to financial capital Mumbai, which is the worst hit state and has recorded nearly half of the country’s new infections in the past two weeks.