India’s Unsettling Covid Spike
Jonah Diaz
India is currently experiencing a rise in COVID-19 cases following mass gatherings that have been held across the country. Kumbh Mela, an annual religious festival, is believed to be the driving cause behind the spike in cases. It is estimated that millions of people attended the festival held in the northern Indian city of Haridwar between April 1st and 30th, an event that the Indian government did little to discourage or prevent.
The Indian government's refusal to put a halt to this event came as a surprise to many, as India was not impacted as strongly at first by the COVID-19 outbreaks in comparison to other countries, and many expected that the government would attempt to maintain this trend. For months, researchers assumed that the general population in India was immune to the disease due to the low infection rate in the country. This, along with the fact that India has a large young population, led people to believe that certain precautions did not need to be taken. However, the COVID-19 pandemic has worsened in several areas due to mutations that make the virus far more potent, contagious and resistant to vaccines.
India’s current population exceeds one billion people, many of whom live in highly congested spaces. India’s dire situation will also be damaging to foreign nations that rely on India for the manufacture and distribution of vaccines, which has since been slowed in many areas due to the outbreak. Hospitals are at maximum capacity and lack the resources to provide proper treatment to their patients. The daily number of cases reported has increased from 200,000 to 400,000 a day, which is a dramatic increase from previous reports.
The United States and several other countries have sent millions of dollars in supplies and vaccines in order to aid the nation’s recovery process. Unfortunately, this rise in COVID-19 cases is a trend that has plagued many other regions aside from India.
This sudden increase in cases will take time to quell and serves as a reminder that although great progress has been made in handling the pandemic, we are still a long way from overcoming this disease for the time being. As of now, it is recommended that you continue to follow safety guidelines by wearing masks and practicing social distancing to help stop the spread of coronavirus.
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