La Soufrière Volcano: Humanitarian needs remain urgent, as ongoing volcanic activity prevents return home
Photo: SVG Red Cross / IFRC
Panama/Geneva/Kingstown, SVG, 7 May 2021 – One month after the explosive eruption of La Soufrière volcano, uncertainty remains, as ongoing volcanic activity prevents people from returning home and hurricane season approaches. Red Cross has supported more than 2,000 people with water and emergency relief supplies since the initial eruption on 9 April.
“We are responding to an emergency within another emergency as the eruption affects a country already impacted by an ongoing dengue outbreak and the social and economic effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. Recent heavy rainfall resulting in landslides and flooding and leading to damage and destruction of property makes the situation even more difficult. Responding to and recovering from these overlapping crises is challenging and will take time,” said Harvey Farrell, Vice-President of the St. Vinc
Sri Lanka on Thursday became the latest of India’s neighbours to seal its borders with the South Asian giant as it battles a record coronavirus surge.
Bangladesh and Nepal have also banned flights and sought to close their borders with India, where a huge rise in numbers in the past three weeks has taken deaths past 230,000 and cases over 21 million.
All three countries are fighting their own pandemic surges, which Red Cross leaders have described as a “human catastrophe”.
The Sri Lankan government banned flight passengers from India entering, as the country reported its highest daily toll of 14 deaths and 1,939 infections in 24 hours.
Nepal stares at health crisis amid virus spillover fears from India 2 minutes read
By Sangam Prasain
Kathmandu, May 7 (EFE).- Nepal is staring at a looming health crisis with record numbers of around 9,000 daily infections as fear grows over a Covid-19 spillover from the neighboring India, which is battling a devastating second wave of the virus.
Hundreds of thousands of Nepalese work as seasoned laborers in India, where a rapidly-spreading strain of the virus is partially blamed for the steep rise in widespread infections and deaths.
According to officials, thousands of migrant laborers have fled the second-worst affected nation and returned home, possibly infected.
Published on: Friday, May 07, 2021
By: AFP
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A relative mourns next to the remains of a Covid-19 victim after a mass cremation at a cremation ground in New Delhi.
NEW DELHI: India saw record new jumps in Covid-19 cases and deaths on Thursday, dashing tentative hopes that a catastrophic recent surge that has stretched hospitals to the limit might be easing.
Health ministry numbers showed 3,980 deaths in the past 24 hours, taking the national total to 230,168, and 412,262 new cases, taking India’s caseload since the pandemic began over 21 million.
Many experts suspect that with low levels of testing and poor record-keeping for cause of death and crematoriums overwhelmed in many places the real numbers could be much higher.