The World Health Organisation says that a "perfect storm" of circumstances has led to India's devastating second wave. Here's how it happened:
For some time now, eyes have been riveted towards the situation in India. There's much talk about this beautiful country, but in 2021, the conversation has turned serious. Dramatic images of funeral pyres—smoke billowing upwards toward the sky—and the grief-stricken faces of family members crying out for oxygen have so far bombarded the global community as a cautionary tale on what could possibly happen in their own home lands. Yet, the situation in India isn't (and shouldn't be) a mere cautionary tale—it's a humanitarian crisis that has put many of the world's current circumstances in full perspective. There are issues of vaccine equity, politicking, and caution fatigue brought to a national scale.
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India, A Success Story?
But how did India get to this point when just a few months ago, it had been lauded as a nationwide success story? In January 2021, the nation of 1 billion was counting a relative low of only 11,000 infections a day. At the World Economic Forum last 28 January, Prime Minister Narendra Modi even boasted that India "had saved the world" and "controlled coronavirus". Then a few weeks later, in mid-February, the Health Minister of the country, Harsh Vardhan, claimed that the pandemic was "in [its] end game" in the country.
India was poised to help export locally manufactured vaccines to other countries. Things were looking good, and a second wave seemed the furthest thing from people—and the government's—minds. Ironically, it's this exact mindset and the inherent "triumphalist" undertones in the government's information dissemination that perhaps first set the current calamity in motion.
People started to relax.
A Cautionary Tale On Complacency
Cricket matches, political protests, and religious festivals were being held mask-less at this point in time. On 17 April 2021, Prime Minister Modi held a large political rally for his campaign, expressing delight at the number of people attending. On that day, 261,394 cases were logged—a far cry from the country's earlier tally of less than 20,000 a day. Images of Hindu followers gathering at the Ganges for the Kumbh Mela festival were also circulating online.