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Covid-19 Wrap-up: Coronavirus ravages hinterland with shallow graves, bodies in the river

A large number of cases are being reported from rural areas and some villages have registered over 25 per cent positivity rate, Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla said
Last Updated 14 May 2021, 14:19 IST

Coronavirus is raging in India's hinterland where, in some places, bodies are being buried in shallow graves or given up to rivers and the sick have little hope other than herbal remedies and amateur doctors.

More than 100 corpses that have washed up on the banks of the river Ganges in recent days suggest the situation is dire. On Friday, more bodies were found floating in the Yamuna river in Auraiya and Hamirpur districts in Uttar Pradesh. A few bodies were also found floating in the Ramganga river in Bareilly and Gomti river.

Lending shoulders to carry the dead on their last journey has traditionally been considered to be 'punya' (virtue) in the Indian culture. Covid-19 has, however, shattered every tradition and exposed the hypocrisy surrounding the moral standards as is evident on cremation ghats along the banks of the Ganga in the ancient city of Varanasi. In a depressing, new phenomenon being termed 'shoulders for sale', people are forced to cough up astronomical amounts to carry the bier to the place where the body is to be cremated.

A large number of cases are being reported from rural areas and some villages have registered over 25 per cent positivity rate, Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla said on Friday. He also called for establishing a healthcare network at the village level, so that a person suffering from coronavirus can be provided adequate and immediate medical care.

With 4,000 single-day coronavirus deaths, India's daily fatalities were 4,000 and above for the third day in a row on Friday. The country reported 3,43,144 new Covid-19 cases. Over 3.44 lakh people recuperated from the disease in the last 24 hours, Union Health Ministry data showed. India's active cases are now above 37 lakh.

Even as the country continues to battle shortage of vaccines, the Union health ministry on Friday announced that a total of 1.92 crore doses of Covishield and Covaxin will be supplied to states and UTs free of cost from May 16 to May 31. While Covishield and Covaxin manufacturers have ramped up production, the Press Information Bureau (PIB) tweeted a list of six upcoming Covid-19 vaccines to be available in India soon.

Dr Reddy's announced that imported doses of Russian coronavirus vaccine Sputnik V would cost Rs Rs 995.40 in India. It held a soft launch of the vaccine in Hyderabad and administered the first jab on Friday. However, Russia is struggling to make Sputnik V; the country produced just 33 million vaccines as of May 12 and exported fewer than 15 million, according to a Reuters tally that counted each vaccine as consisting of two doses.

Amid rising Covid-19 cases in Karnataka, Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa said the state will float global tenders to procure vaccines soon. Meanwhile, Bengaluru hospitals need in-house oxygen generators, but high costs are becoming a barrier. Only a few super-specialty hospitals with over 500 beds have invested in such generators. The generators cost upwards of Rs 25 lakh based on the capacity.

The Karnataka government also announced that it will hold randomly scheduled reality checks at hospitals in Bengaluru to monitor admission and discharge of Covid patients, according to Forest minister Arvind Limbavali, who is also the nodal minister for Covid War Rooms and Helplines. According to the minister, random checks at call centres will help understand the actual availability of beds at hospitals and also the status of treatment to the patients.

The Karnataka Congress on Friday announced that all its legislators and MPs would pool in Rs 100 crore from their local area development (LAD) funds to procure vaccines. This comes after CM BS Yediyurappa and 32 other ministers in his Cabinet decided to forego their salary for one year, which will be donated to the Covid-19 relief fund.

Meanwhile, the lockdown in neighbouring Kerala has been extended till May 23, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan announced on Friday evening. In a positive development, the pandemic has brought cheer to a 33-year old woman in Thiruvananthapuram as she reunited with her father after three decades.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday said the government was making all-out efforts to vaccinate people at a faster pace. Addressing farmers from across the country through video conference, Modi described the war on Covid-19 as a fight against an “invisible enemy” who was capable of assuming different forms. “After 100 years, the pandemic is testing the world. We have an invisible enemy before us. We have lost many of our close ones to this enemy. Being your Pradhan Sevak, I can feel the pain many of you have endured,” the PM said.

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(Published 14 May 2021, 14:19 IST)

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