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“In India there is not much hope. Covid-19 seems unstoppable. People are afraid. They are afraid that their loved ones will die because there is not the most basic thing to deal with, like oxygen, ”Mexican Nayelly Rodriguez told BBC Mundo Corts.
Rodriguez, 29, converted to Islam 11 years ago in his hometown of Guadalajara. Later, she met her husband Feroz Khan, with whom she has 3 children aged 8, 6 and 3.
They have been living for 6 years in Ghaziabad, in the north of the country, 45 kilometers from New Delhi.
Last Thursday, after showing symptoms of covid-19 – including a cough, body aches and fever – her test came back positive. A few days later, the same thing happened with her husband and children.
“I don’t know how it infected me, we had already been locked up for several days, I only went out for my children’s food, always wearing masks and keeping a distance”, says Nana, as she is colloquially called. .
Shortage of beds and oxygen-6543
She assures that she is not too scared for herself and her family, but accepts that when she walks to do something at home, she is out of breath.
“This is the great uncertainty that we have in our home and in all the sick people in India. What do we do if our symptoms get worse? Are we going to be able to get the most basic things like oxygen or a bed in the hospital? ”
India has set new world records for new COVID-19 infections, reaching nearly 400,000 in one day and facing a severe shortage of hospital beds as well as medical oxygen tanks.
“It’s very difficult to get a tank. And some take advantage of it: they sell them for up to $ 1,000, a figure that most people can’t reach, especially after people have found themselves out of work and without a way to make money. ”
Whole families
He says that in the cluster of buildings where he lives, and from what he hears on the news, what happened with his family is what is happening in the country: entire families are getting sick. .
“There are many, many infected, the cases are increasing exponentially. Every day we are seeing more and more people. It doesn’t look like a wave, it looks like a tsunami.”
Nana says more and more people have died from covid, including the parents of a neighbor.
“And one case that shocked me a lot is that in the buildings where I live two weeks ago an 8 year old boy passed out in the park and died before he got to the hospital. . There they told his parents he was for the virus.
With more than 19 million recorded cases, India is the second most infected country, only after the United States.
So far it has reported nearly 212,000 deaths, but it is believed that this number will increase significantly in the coming days due to this new strong attack of the virus and due to media suspicions that not all deaths have been reported.
Excessive deaths
Nana says few cases were heard in February, that people began to relax and lead more normal lives, including attending massive religious festivals, and that this partly helped spread the virus. A variant of covid-19 is circulating in the country about which little is yet known.
Photographs and videos circulate around the world showing crematoria with numerous pyres that keep burning and lines of bodies waiting until 8 p.m. to be cremated.
The Hindu newspaper caused a stir by announcing that the body of a man who was waiting for his turn had been partially eaten by a stray dog.
Places such as parks and car parks have also been set up for cremations.
In Delhi, a crematorium which had been set up to cremate pets, but which had not yet entered into service, is being used for people.
“When Muslims die, we cannot be cremated, but buried. But the pantheons are also already full, ”he says.
Nana says she has seen a sharp increase in infections compared to the first wave of coronavirus in 2021.
At that time, she documented on her YouTube channel how she came out to help the exodus of migrant workers who returned to their towns and villages. They were given food and water to keep walking since trains and buses were canceled.
“A lot of people are living hand to mouth and have lost their jobs. They are in dire straits. Thus, migrants from other states once again left the city and went to their places of origin, so as not to starve. can also die because there is less medical infrastructure. ”
Restrictions
For now, Delhi and other cities are blocked. The only open businesses are food or medicine. She lives on the 26th floor of a building and her only connection to the outdoors is her window. “From there I can see the road and the streets. They are deserted. There is nobody. Very few cars pass, ”he says.
Her family in Mexico are worried about her and the situation in India. “They are afraid that we are getting serious. They would like to come and help us, but they cannot, we are more than a day away on the plane and at the moment it is almost impossible to travel.”
The United States has announced that it will restrict travel to India from next week. Australia has banned all flights to India and barred its citizens from returning from that country, announcing they would face fines and up to 5 years in prison.
In India, there was hope in vaccines, as it is the world’s largest producer. However, several states – some of the most affected by covid – have reported a lack of vaccines.
So far, only 150 million doses have been applied to a population of 1.3 billion. For now, India has stopped exports of AstraZeneca to vaccinate its citizens.
“For now, we hope that help will come from other countries. People are dying not only from the virus, but from the lack of essential products to treat it. We do not know how to stop this,” laments Nana.
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