India is currently facing a COVID-19 crisis, with millions of reported cases and no end in sight. More than 20 million COVID cases have been reported as of Tuesday, May 4, including approximately 3.5 million people who are currently being treated. In the past week, the number of COVID cases in India had increased by nearly 2.7 million, and that number alone would have placed the country at 14th in nations hit the worst by the pandemic.
However, many experts believe that this number is not accurate because of cases being severely underreported. Director of the University of Washington Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation Chris Murray believes that India is only able to report 3 to 4 percent of active cases, which means that millions more cases are going undetected.
Currently, seven Indian states have reported over 1 million COVID cases, with many others quickly increasing towards that mark. Maharashtra has reported the most confirmed cases at nearly 4.8 million, which is roughly equal to Russia’s total number of cases.
India is also facing a severe shortage of beds and medical supplies in its hospitals and clinics. Twelve patients died Saturday, May 1 at Batra Hospital in New Delhi due to oxygen shortages at the facility. More than 20 patients were without hospital beds and oxygen at Ballia District Hospital in a rural area of Uttar Pradesh in northern India.
According to the country’s health ministry, at least 220,000 people in India have died from COVID, the third highest COVID death toll in the world. Only the United States and Brazil have reported more deaths.
However, experts say that the death toll far exceeds the official figures. University of Michigan epidemiologist Bhramar Mukherjee believes that the number of deaths may be two to five times more than what is being reported, according to the data modelling he and his colleagues have done.
Doctors worry that the surge in cases in India is linked to the emergence of a new COVID-19 variant known as the “double mutant” B.1.617. It contains genetic mutations found in two other hard-to-control types of COVID; one of the mutations is highly-contagious and the other is believed to make the virus more resistant to vaccines.
However, India expanded its COVID vaccine eligibility Saturday, May 1, allowing everyone above the age of 18 to register for the vaccine. However, the country does not have nearly enough dosages for the adult population, despite India being the world’s leading vaccine manufacturer, severely slowing the vaccination effort and causing clinics in several states to shut down completely. It had planned to ship 2.4 million doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine produced by top vaccine company Serum Institute of India to several African countries, but Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi suspended nearly all exports due to the recent surge in COVID-19 cases.
As of Tuesday, May 4, nearly 159 million vaccine doses have been administered, so approximately 11.3 percent of the 1.4 billion Indian population have been vaccinated. However, even if India could produce enough vaccines, COVID infections will not necessarily be averted. Vaccines take nearly two weeks to take effect with a period of two to four weeks between doses, but the median incubation period for the virus is only four to five days.
Organizations such as Direct Relief, Oxygen for India, Project HOPE, Association for India’s Development, the American India Foundation and the Indian Red Cross Society are providing medical supplies such as oxygen and PPE to India. You can go to their official websites to donate.
