India’s virus crisis spreads
Concern as massive surge in cases grips South East Asia
The World Health Organisation has confirmed India’s cataclysmic second wave has begun spreading across borders, warning governments to take action as a massive surge in cases grips South East Asia.
India recorded close to half of the globe’s coronavirus infection tally last week, with a new record on May 6 of more than 414,000 infections. On the same day, the country recorded 3920 deaths. Experts believe the true numbers are much higher.
On Friday, the WHO confirmed more than 2.7 million new cases and 25,000 new deaths in the South East Asia region, marking a concerning 19 per cent and a 48 per cent increase respectively compared to the previous week. “India is currently driving the vast majority of this upward trend,” the organisation warned.
Red Cross Asia-pacific director Alexander Matheou sounded the alarm for the region, which is in danger of having the virus spiral out of control at a rate not seen since the initial outbreak in China in 2019.
“We need to act now and we need to act fast to have any hope of containing this human catastrophe,” Matheou said in a statement.
The highly infectious coronavirus variant currently gripping India has been detected a stone’s throw away from Australian borders in Indonesia. The country confirmed two patients returned tests containing India’s double mutant B. 1.617 strain earlier this week.
Government officials have introduced a ban on all domestic travel from May 6 to May 17 in a bid to stem the spread through the country’s Mudik holiday period.
Ordinarily, tens of millions of people travel across the nation to visit family to celebrate the end of Ramadan, but experts warn a large spike in holiday travel could spell disaster if not kept in check.
Indonesia saw 6327 new cases last Friday, 700 more from the previous day, continuing a growing surge in cases beginning in April. According to official counts, Indonesia has recorded 1,713,684 total cases and 47,012 deaths since the beginning of the pandemic.
On Sunday, health authorities said that for the first time, a coronavirus variant originally identified in India was found in Bangladesh.
Due to the Indian ban on vaccine exports, the densely populated country of 160 million is desperately seeking new avenues for vaccines, and is attempting to produce Russian and Chinese vaccines at home by bringing technology from both countries. Since March last year, the country has reported 773,513 confirmed cases and 11,934 deaths.
Stamping out a second wave in December, Thailand could be forgiven for believing the worst was behind it after staying relatively on top of the pandemic throughout 2020. The nation, which is home to 60 million adults, was the first country outside China to record a case of coronavirus and has since only recorded 382 deaths. However, the popular holiday destination, devastated economically by the lack of tourism, now finds itself sitting on the brink of a third wave. On Saturday 2419 new cases and 19 new deaths were recorded, making it the eighth straight day of 500-plus positive cases.
Since the beginning of the pandemic, Thailand has recorded 83,375 cases and 399 deaths.
Perched just south of India near the Bay of Bengal, the island nation of Sri Lanka is experiencing a massive surge in new cases. The country, home to 21 million people, reported 1111 new cases on April 27, marking the first time daily infections had passed 1000 since the initial outbreak in early 2020.
After a relatively smooth start to the year in terms of infection rates, the Sri Lankan Government was forced to reintroduce lockdowns across the nation, including shutting schools and banning private events. On Saturday, infections almost doubled, recording 1914 new cases and a record 19 new deaths, according to the National Operations Centre for Prevention of Covid-19.
The Government has since banned all flights from neighbouring India.
Sri Lanka has recorded 125,906 cases and 786 deaths since the beginning of the pandemic. — Agencies