Grim news keeps piling up concerning the coronavirus pandemic. The partial opening after the long lockdown has seen a huge spurt in the number of infections. On Saturday, the Union Cabinet took stock of the situation. The emerging numbers of infections and deaths were a cause of concern. It emerged that the highest number of single-day cases, that is, 11458, were recorded on Friday. And now the country has the fourth-highest number of coronavirus cases among the ten worst-hit countries. Two-thirds of these cases were in five States with the big cities accounting for the highest tally. The approaching monsoon could further aggravate the situation. Mumbai in normal times comes to a standstill at the time of the first heavy shower of the season. The drainage system gets choked with dirt and garbage during the rest of the year, and is not cleared by the municipal staff. Heavy showers do it for the BMC, but disrupt normal life of the city year after year. This year could be worse due to the corona crisis. Mumbai and Delhi are the worst-affected. Mumbai, the Union Cabinet was told, was operating at 99 percent capacity in beds and 94 percent of ventilators. Of 1,181 beds in various ICUs across the city, as many as 1,167 were occupied. Only 14 beds were available for new patients. As for ventilators, 497 of the 530 ventilators were engaged. 87% of the beds out of a total of about 10,500 dedicated COVID-19 beds were already occupied. Overall, Mumbai had reported over 55,000 cases and 2044 deaths till Saturday. Mumbai has now crossed the number of cases reported from Wuhan, where the pandemic originated last December. The doubling rate of cases in Mumbai is now 25 days, though the healthcare system in the metropolis is already at breaking point. The situation in Delhi is no better. On Friday, the Supreme Court criticised the Delhi Government in no uncertain terms for mishandling the COVID-19 crisis and directed it to take immediate remedial steps. A three-member bench of Justices Ashok Bhushan, S K Kaul and M R Shah described the situation in the capital as “deplorable and pathetic”. The court also asked Delhi and other States to make arrangements to pay the doctors and nursing staff their monthly salaries and other dues immediately. The Union Cabinet discussed at some length the situation in Delhi, a Union Territory, and recommended some steps required to be taken in consultation with the Lt. Governor and the Delhi Government. That the Arvind Kejriwal Government has messed up the situation by its incompetence is now conceded even by its most ardent supporters.
Meanwhile, the tussle between those who wanted the lockdown to be extended further to contain the spread of the virus and those who pressed for the reopening of the economy continues unabated. Even in Mumbai, while Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray went on record expressing his willingness to extend the lockdown further after June 30 when the current phase is scheduled to end, others argue against the continued restraints on the return of normalcy. Strangely enough, the Aam Aadmi Party Government while opening up the economy anticipates a 20-fold increase in COVID-19 cases by the end of July. Yet, it is against extending the lockdown, instead turning cricket and other sports stadia into temporary COVID-19 hospitals. The official policy reflects a growing sense of resignation to whatever may come next. We will see what happens next, seems to sum up the thinking of the government. The appalling failure of the city government to manage the situation in local hospitals, at the crematoriums which are barely able to cope with the rising deaths, and at the morgues is depicted in tell-tale social media videos posted by the near and dear ones of the COVID-19 victims. So overpowering is the fear of the virus that even close relatives and hospital staff treat the infected with dread, refusing to provide necessary medical assistance. That doctors and nursing staff are treated as untouchables, as virtual non-persons, by seemingly educated people in their residential areas reflects a deep-seated social malaise in our society. As and when the threat of the virus is behind us, even a cursory inquiry will prove that we as Indians, and not just those in governments, behaved in a most selfish and craven manner, prioritising personal safety over the well-being of fellow citizens.
