Corona is viciously sweeping through rural Bengal, Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh, Gujarat and Haryana, Assam, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Goa, in greater intensities, and perhaps more states.<\/p>\n
Rural India generally avoids the healthcare system and usually visit a hospital in the twelvth hour, afraid of hospitals because they are petrified that their organs would be removed if admitted to hospital and bodies are never given to relatives, they don’t want to test because are terrified of quarantines and afraid of vaccines feeling it will kill them.<\/p>\n
Most Indians nurtured pride that COVID would not visit rural India surmising the rural Indians were stronger and resistant to the virus.<\/p>\n
India had one year to prepare for the second wave, which was never done due to presumptuous attitudes that rural India would not get it because only urban India was COVID’s target, thus there was very little testing.\u00a0 Perhaps COVID related deaths were not even identified and passed off as heart disease and other illnesses.<\/p>\n
Uttar Pradesh started experiencing a surge in the first week of April with a rise of cases exploding beginning the second week. On April 8, the state reported 8,490 new cases, crossing the previous peak of 7,016 cases registered in September 2020. However, half of these 8,490 confirmed cases were limited to the four districts of Lucknow, Prayagraj, Kanpur and Varanasi.<\/p>\n
But things have grown worse from there. On April 25, the state reported nearly 38,000 cases. As of April 27 morning, the state has over 300,00 active cases. Experts say the true numbers are likely to be much higher given the state\u2019s slow testing.<\/p>\n
It is becoming evident that COVID s no longer restricted to urban centres.\u00a0 \u00a0People are, \u201cdropping dead like flies,\u201d said Imran Ahmed, a local activist from Ballia\u2019s Sikanderpur who has been helping people get access to oxygen with a lot of struggles.\u00a0 He said, \u201cAll their family members have the same story to share: they develop a fever and then all of a sudden they are gasping for breath, but there is no oxygen anywhere.\u201d<\/p>\n
A doctor at the Sikanderpur community health center said, \u201cOur daily patient load is 200-250 patients per day and 90% of the cases come with problems of cough, fever, and breathlessness,\u201d he said. \u201cThe more severe cases who need oxygen, there is eight-ten every day, we refer to the district hospital.\u201d<\/p>\n
It was tragic that rural India was blissfully unaware that the evil grasping hands of COVID were going to strike.\u00a0 The virus stalks everyone and spares no one.\u00a0 It is evident that rural India did not follow the distancing, masking, isolation protocols, with complacency in rural India with poor investments in rural India, weak medical infrastructure, fewer doctors all eventually leading to the catastrophic COVID bomb exploding in rural India. This tragedy could have been averted with better planning and prevention strategies. Unfortunately, even massive gatherings and crowds in rural India strengthened the virus and allowed it to mutate to new variants.<\/p>\n
Vaccinations and isolation are the two weapons to fight Corona, but right now, only 2% of the population is vaccinated, and crowding rather than isolation is practiced in India presently…not even now with lockdowns is it being practiced.\u00a0 The Central Vista building process is on, only again defying all rules of isolation.<\/p>\n