Alarming rise in coronavirus cases in India

COVID-19 continues its voracious trajectory. India has now become the first country in the world to record 80,000 cases in a single day. For the last 10 days, India has been recording over 70,000 cases per day. This is indeed alarming (“India sees new record jump in coronavirus cases,” Aug 30, Gulf Today).

The state of Maharashtra continues to be the most impacted with about 193,000 cases, followed by Andhra Pradesh with about 99,000 cases. The disease is also spreading in the rural areas of India, where it will be difficult to track all cases and treat them appropriately.

With 3.6 million cases, India is now poised to overtake Brazil with 3.8 million cases, and become the second most impacted country, after the US. India was the fifth/sixth ranked country on the global COVID-19 impacted countries, just a few weeks ago. It means India must focus hard to control the disease, as many other countries seem to have done. State Governments are easing the lockdowns, so that the economic machinery does not grind to a complete halt. Hotels are likely to be permitted higher occupancy, metro trains may restart and even gymnasiums may reopen. These steps may be necessary, for people need to make a living. Millions of people have lost jobs, or have had their salaries curtailed.

The various municipalities and state governments should focus on massive testing of citizens, so that the disease can be observed and treated at early stages. Masks should be made absolutely mandatory. Social distancing should be strictly enforced at the work places and in the markets. Simultaneously, public and private hospital facilities should be augmented aggressively to treat COVID-19 and other ailments like heart, kidney, asthma, etc., issues, to reduce fatalities.

There is a huge danger of citizens becoming COVID-19 fatigued and relaxing their guard. This would be a serious lapse.  COVID-19 is spreading more rapidly in India now, that at any time in the past. This is the time for maximum precautions.

Rajendra Aneja — Mumbai, India