The St Kitts Nevis Observer
Guardian (UK)
They will be remembered as India’s lost months: the stretch between September and February when Covid-19 cases in the country defied global trends, falling sharply throughout the coldest months of the year until they reached four-figure daily totals.
It was inexplicable. Was it the Indian climate? A protection conferred by childhood immunisations? Some speculated India may have naturally reached herd immunity. It was a tantalising idea that took hold in India’s highest circles of policymaking, media and science – even a government-commissioned study suggested herd immunity may indeed have been achieved. It would prove one of the most fatal miscalculations of the Covid-19 pandemic so far.
How fast can vaccines solve India s COVID-19 crisis? It s complicated.
All adults will be eligible for shots beginning tomorrow. But supplies are limited, and experts fear the poor will be left out.
ByVaishnavi Chandrashekhar
Email
CHENNAIIt’s 9 a.m. local time, and the security guard at a primary health center in Chennai, a major city in south India, is turning away people at the gate. Most have come to get their second shot of Covaxin, one of two COVID-19 vaccines currently available in India that both require two doses. Some hold up their phones and say they’ve got an appointment from the government vaccine app. But the guard tells them they’re too late. A case of vials enough for only a hundred shots had arrived earlier in the morning. “People were waiting from 6 a.m.,” he says. “It’s over.”
Anger grows as India s Narendra Modi amid devastating coronavirus surge washingtonpost.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from washingtonpost.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
An outbreak the size of Indiaâs second wave, apparently fuelled by Covid-19 variants that appear to be more infectious than earlier strains, would have overwhelmed most public health systems â let alone one of the most chronically underfunded in the world, serving a vast, spread-out population.
But public health experts, including some involved in advising the government, say the scale of Indiaâs current outbreak was also partly manmade, the result of a feeling of exceptionalism that emanated from the top of the Indian government and rippled across society, leading to countless administrative and personal decisions that, within a few months, would prove disastrous.
32-yr-old man, who was supposed to get married today, dies of covid-19 coastaldigest.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from coastaldigest.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.