COVID-19 Situation In India Beyond Heartbreaking, Says WHO Director-General

New Delhi: The World Health Organization (WHO) chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus expressed concern over the surging COVID-19 cases and deaths in India, on Monday (April 26). “The situation in India is beyond heartbreaking,” Dr Tedros said at a media briefing. His comments came as the country battles a catastrophic wave of COVID-19 pandemic. According to the data updated by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoHFW), the country has reported over three lakh daily new cases for six consecutive days. The country now has a total active caseload of over 28,8 lakh (28,82,204) and is facing an acute shortage of oxygen supply and essential medicines at various places. The WHO Chief has said that the organisation was rushing to help address the crisis.

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Dr Tedros also said WHO had transferred more than 2,600 of its experts from various programmes, including polio and tuberculosis, to work with Indian health authorities to help respond to the pandemic. He added,

WHO is doing everything we can, providing critical equipment and supplies, including thousands of oxygen concentrators, prefabricated mobile field hospitals and laboratory supplies.

Maria Van Kerkhove, WHO’s technical lead on COVID-19 said that the exponential growth in case numbers is astonishing. She warned that India was not unique, pointing out that a number of countries had seen similar trajectories of increases in transmission.

This can happen in a number of countries. If we let our guard down. We are in a fragile situation, she said.

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WHO Chief also expressed concern over the global new cases number that has been rising for the past nine weeks. He said,

To put it in perspective, there were almost as many cases globally last week as in the first five months of the pandemic.

The pandemic has killed over 30 crore people globally and has infected over 14.7 crore people.

WHO highlighted that the crisis in India has taken a toll on the COVAX (COVID-19 Vaccines Global Access) programme which aims to provide equitable access to COVID-19 vaccines to the poor countries. While prior to the surge, the country was exporting millions of AstraZena-Oxford’s COVID-19 vaccine being produced by the Serum Institute of India, Pune, the exports froze once the cases started surging. To date, some 40.8 million COVID-19 vaccine doses have been distributed to 118 countries and territories through COVAX.

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NDTV – Dettol Banega Swasth India campaign is an extension of the five-year-old Banega Swachh India initiative helmed by Campaign Ambassador Amitabh Bachchan. It aims to spread awareness about critical health issues facing the country. In wake of the current COVID-19 pandemic, the need for WASH (Water, Sanitation and Hygiene) is reaffirmed as handwashing is one of the ways to prevent Coronavirus infection and other diseases. The campaign highlights the importance of nutrition and healthcare for women and children to prevent maternal and child mortality, fight malnutrition, stunting, wasting, anaemia and disease prevention through vaccines. Importance of programmes like Public Distribution System (PDS), Mid-day Meal Scheme, POSHAN Abhiyan and the role of Aganwadis and ASHA workers are also covered. Only a Swachh or clean India where toilets are used and open defecation free (ODF) status achieved as part of the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in 2014, can eradicate diseases like diahorrea and become a Swasth or healthy India. The campaign will continue to cover issues like air pollution, waste management, plastic ban, manual scavenging and sanitation workers and menstrual hygiene.