Argentina doubles infection rate in India, the country alarming the world

Amid one of the worst times of the pandemic, the Argentina Doubles number of daily coronavirus infections per million people in India, the country was overwhelmed by a second wave and a new variant of the virus that caused its health system to collapse.

According to the figures of Our world in data, at last week for every million inhabitants 503 positive cases were confirmed coronavirus in Argentina, more than double the number of infections in India in the same proportion, with 253 cases.

The rise in infections in Argentina has jumped even surpassed the figures for Brazil – the country hardest hit by the pandemic in the region –, what matters 267 positive cases per million inhabitants, And it’s the second with the highest number of deaths because of the virus (today it exceeded 400,000), only behind the United States. However, the country in the region with the highest number of infections per million population in the past seven days is Uruguay, with 840.

Taking into account countries with more than one million inhabitants, it tops the list Cyprus (929), followed by Uruguay (840), Bahrain (629), Turkey (515) and Sweden (511). Argentina ranks sixth in this world table, followed by the Netherlands (461) and Lithuania (420).

Regarding India, experts warn that amid the chaos plaguing the Asian country, it is highly likely that there will be a under-registration of cases concerning official data reported by the government. The same would happen with the number of deaths from the coronavirus.

India is mired in a crisis resulting from the easing of restrictions and massive religious holidays in recent weeks. In addition, the increased lethality compared to the first wave is due to a new virus variant identified in this country, whose vaccine resistance and infectivity are still unknown, but which claims the lives of more than 3,000 people every 24 hours.

The country surpassed 18 million cases on Thursday after another world record of 379,257 daily infections. Hospitals in large cities are no longer accepting patients due to lack of capacity, and desperate families are trying to find oxygen supplies for their loved ones on their own. Even the morgues were running out of space and mass cremations began to take place in the streets for lack of alternatives.

India, which has a population of around 1.4 billion, is going through an unprecedented situation. Even like that, Argentina’s figures are still worrying.

The the curve has risen sharply in Argentina since the end of March. With 26,053 positive cases in the past 24 hours, the country records a total of 2,954,943 people who have tested positive for Covid-19 since the start of the pandemic last year.

The country has overtaken today the barrier of 63,000 deaths due to the disease, after having recorded today a new daily record (561).

During the first wave of the pandemic of the coronavirus, the available intensive care beds did not become full. Today with the contagion curve faster than last year, the question of a possible collapse of the health system is latent.

The second wave weakens health centers whose bed occupancy rate in intensive care units continues to increase. Thursday the country reached a new record with 5,317 people admitted to intensive care, the highest amount recorded since the arrival of the coronavirus, according to the daily epidemiological report.

Both to National level as in the municipalities that make up the Buenos Aires Metropolitan Area (AMBA), has already exceeded half of its availability, averaging 68.4% and 76.6% of occupied beds respectively, the latest report from the National Ministry of Health. In the Province of Buenos Aires the demand for intensive care rooms is 67%.

The concern is greater when we look at the average age of those admitted. As in several countries in the region, the number of patients under the age of 60 has increased in intensive care.

“56.3% of people admitted to intensive care in national hospitals in Argentina are under the age of 60, in line with the trend that was recorded in other countries in the region in 2021,” the ministry reported on Tuesday in a report. communicated. Health, which reinforces the fact that a high percentage of these patients require assisted breathing.

Looking at data from India, Argentina has carried out more coronavirus tests per million population, according to information from the Worldometer website. While Argentina has so far carried out just over 241,000 tests per million population, India has 203,000 in the same proportion.

It also exceeds it in the vaccination campaign. In both cases, the vaccination rate compared to other countries is slow. La India, el mayor producer de vacunas en el mundo, administró aproximadamente 10 dosis por cada 100 inhabitants, mientras la Argentina inoculó casi 15 personas por cada 100 inhabitants con al menos una dosis (908.441 personas con dos dosis, equivalent to 2% of the City).