‘Avoidable’, ‘Missteps’: How international media lined India’s Covid-19 surge

India’s Covid-19 disaster has drawn the world’s consideration, with its alarming state of affairs that includes on the primary pages of newspapers throughout the globe this week. On Saturday, India broke its earlier report to rely greater than 3.46 lakh infections — the best recorded wherever on the earth for the reason that pandemic first started.
The surge in circumstances has battered its already feeble healthcare system. Thousands of Covid sufferers have been scrambling to search out hospital beds, oxygen cylinders and doubtlessly life saving medicine amidst an acute scarcity of medical assets within the nation. A rerun of the migrant exodus seen final 12 months is being witnessed as soon as once more.
As state authorities grapple with an aggressive second wave, right here’s how the worldwide media has reported India’s well being disaster.
‘As avoidable as it is tragic’: The Washington Post, US 
The Washington Post known as India’s new wave of Covid-19 “as avoidable as it is tragic”. The sudden wave was brought on by India stress-free restrictions too quickly, it said. “Tens of thousands of spectators were allowed to fill stadiums for cricket matches; movie theaters were opened; and the government permitted enormous religious gatherings such as the Kumbh Mela, a festival in which millions of Hindus gathered to bathe in the river Ganges,” it stated. “India is not a faraway problem. In pandemic time and distance, every place is nearby.”
‘PM’s overconfidence’: The Guardian, UK
An editorial printed within the Guardian said: “The Indian prime minister’s overconfidence lies behind the country’s disastrous Covid-19 response.” Guardian is of the view that “the Indian prime minister suffers from overconfidence in his own instincts and pooh-poohs expert advice” and “the buck stops with him”.
“He should acknowledge and make amends for mistakes that have caused enormous suffering. He needs to engage with experts on how to uphold restrictions; ensure government delivery matches promises; and drop the sectarian ideology that divides when unity is required. Future historians will judge Mr Modi harshly if he continues with the exceptionalist views that have led to a disastrous public health outcome,” Guardian stated.
An evaluation of the state of affairs carried within the Guardian additionally factors to how “blindspots in India’s response” to the second wave “serve as a stark warning to other countries”. Author Peter Beaumont writes that the most recent wave is “probably a combination of social behaviour, weaknesses in India’s health system and policy decisions.”
‘Crisis deepened by missteps, complacency’: The New York Times, US
The disaster was deepened by missteps and complacency, in keeping with an article printed within the New York Times. “Complacency and government missteps have helped turned India from a seeming success story into one of the world’s worst-hit places, experts say. And epidemiologists warn that continuing failure in India would have global implications,” the article learn. It additional said that India’s vaccination rollout was “late and riddled with setbacks”. 
“What India needs now, epidemiologists and experts say, is concerted and consistent leadership to contain infections and buy time to make vaccinations more widely available and faster,” the NYT article said. 

‘India’s healthcare system is buckling’: BBC, UK 
A BBC report said, “Cases have surged during India’s second wave, driven by a number of factors. Health protocols have been lax, with mask mandates sporadically enforced.” It additionally attributed the sudden rise in circumstances to hundreds of thousands attending the Kumbh Mela. 
“India’s healthcare system is buckling as a record surge in Covid-19 cases puts pressure on hospital beds and drains oxygen supplies. Families are left pleading for their relatives who are desperately ill, with some patients left untreated for hours,” the report learn.
‘Catastrophe could have been avoided’: ABC, Australia
Australia’s ABC blames Covid-19 complacency for India’s present predicament. “Not only is the surge far more aggressive and deadly than the one India endured last year, but there is a much stronger belief that this catastrophe could have, and should have, been easily avoided,” ABC wrote.
“There are three key factors behind what went wrong: government response, public behaviour and variants,” it added.
‘Responsibility lies with a strongman regime’: Time, US 
An article printed in Time journal questions how India was caught unprepared when circumstances began rising this 12 months. “The responsibility lies with a strongman regime that has ignored all caution… It lies with the sycophantic cabinet ministers who praised Modi for successfully dealing with Covid-19 in India even as testing slowed down and allowed people to become more complacent about the virus.” 
Referring to the state of affairs in Maharashtra, the article additionally blamed state ministers who most well-liked “playing power games to actually governing, and who were caught napping as the virus made a comeback.” 

‘Unforgettable mistake of dropping guard’: Global Times, China 
China’s Global Times accused India of constructing an “unforgettable mistake” by dropping its guard following a quick lull in coronavirus circumstances. “Now, Oxford Economics warned that the brutal coronavirus resurgence in India would raise concerns that Indian economy’s nascent recovery will be derailed,” an article printed by the Chinese information outlet learn. 
“When the resurgence of tens of thousands is formed in a poor and populated country like India, the upward trend is going to develop for a couple of weeks, if not months,” it said. 
‘Doctors advised patients to stay home’: Dawn, Pakistan
Pakistan’s Dawn newspaper has been reporting on how India’s healthcare system has been struggling to maintain up with the second wave. “Hospitals across northern and western India, including the capital New Delhi, issued notices to say they have only a few hours of medical oxygen required to keep Covid-19 patients alive,” one such article learn.
“More than two-thirds of hospitals had no vacant beds, according to the Delhi government’s online data base and doctors advised patients to stay at home.”