Covid-19: Pay attention to rural India
Hindustan TimesWhen Covid-19 first hit India, the biggest fear among both policymakers and public experts was that the pandemic would travel to India’s Hindi heartland — primarily across the rural belt of Uttar Pradesh and Bihar. Given the size of the two states, the density of population, the abysmal health care infrastructure, and the manner in which the virus could quickly transmit in these regions, this fear was legitimate. Testing is hard, hospital admissions of patients with serious symptoms are harder, there is an acute shortage of medical supplies, contact-tracing is non-existent, bureaucratic red tape has made care even more difficult, and there is little dignity in death. But anecdotal reports from local communities, hospitals, emergency wards, crematoriums and graveyards; informal admissions by district and health authorities; pleas for help on social media ; and now the tragic sight of bodies floating in the Ganga, confirm that the numbers are much higher.