Health experts predict that India’s coronavirus crisis will only be getting worse in the next couple of months with the total death toll expected to double from the current high of 226,000.
Thousands of miles to the West, Brazil, another populous nation, struggles too to bring its own health crisis under control with its COVID-19 death toll already the highest after the United States at 408,000.
While in other parts of the world, strict restrictions and lockdowns have managed to bring some relief and brought down the number of COVID-19 infections and deaths, also helped by the roll out of vaccine, India and Brazil with their out of control coronavirus conditions threaten to set back the global efforts to contain the pandemic.
This is a global pandemic and we are all in it together. The catastrophic situation in India, Brazil and few other countries have the potential to spread a faster and deadlier form of the virus to the rest of the world. The international community just cannot afford to sit and watch. All countries must extend their help, now
With their huge population (India: 1.39 billion, Brazil: 214 million), they could very well initiate a new wave of outbreak that will certainly be deadlier than anything we have ever seen since the start of the pandemic 18 months ago.
As per a Bloomberg report, a team at the Indian Institute of Science in Bengaluru projects that the country’s death toll will exceed 400,000 by June 11 if the current trends continue.
The projection is based on a mathematical model. Another model, used by the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation at the University of Washington, has given a more terrifying forecast of 1,018,879 deaths by the end of July.
With a health system overwhelmed with acute shortage of medical supplies, especially oxygen supply, and overstretched hospitals, which have been turning away patients, India cannot seem to be able to bring the situation under control alone. The government is currently under pressure to impose a total national lockdown to buy the health system precious time.
A global campaign
In Brazil, the government is also under attack for its complacency in the face of the pandemic. The country is so short of vaccine supplies that major urban centers, including the capital city, have not been able to administer second doses. Intensive care wards have run out of oxygen and medicine needed to sedate COVID-19 patients on ventilators.
With this grim picture in both nations, the world needs to move fast. The World Health Organisation (WHO) must initiate a global campaign to assist the two countries in their uphill battle to bring the outbreak under control.
Field hospitals are needed urgently, along with critical supplies of oxygen, sedatives, and vaccines. Medical staff will also be a welcome gesture to asset the national teams. Rich countries worldwide must help the WHO in delivering the critical aid.
This is a global pandemic and we are all in it together. The catastrophic situation in India, Brazil and few other countries have the potential to spread a faster and deadlier form of the virus to the rest of the world. The international community just cannot afford to sit and watch. All countries must extend their help, now.
