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The news from India is terrifying. And that after all the speculation about how the country must have reached some sort of herd immunity as there seemed no other explanation for the dramatic and sustained low numbers of cases over the past several months.
And of course the biggest festival in the world, that'll help.
 
Turkey today:
number of tests: 310.420
number of new cases: 62.797

The BBC had Orla Guerin lending her doom tones and emotive political angles to the terrible story of Turkey in the pandemic on the main BBC news the other day, thats how bad its gotten there.
 
The BBC had Orla Guerin lending her doom tones and emotive political angles to the terrible story of Turkey in the pandemic on the main BBC news the other day, thats how bad its gotten there.
I saw that, and my first thought was to wonder how long it is until she's asked to move on...the BBC is not particularly well regarded in various circles in Turkey.
 
The news from India is terrifying. And that after all the speculation about how the country must have reached some sort of herd immunity as there seemed no other explanation for the dramatic and sustained low numbers of cases over the past several months.
And of course the biggest festival in the world, that'll help.

We were discussing this a bit upthread, but those latest figures are really horrible :(

On a slightly weirder note in the midst of all that .....

The Times of India article above, is a walking example of making those who are fluent in UK English wonder whether they understand Indian English at all :oops:

I keep having to remind myself what the fuck a 'lakh' is (100,000).

(And good on you if you remember what a 'crore' is (ten million :eek: :) ).
 
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More information about the Kumbh in the Times of India here :

Times of India said:
Lakhs of devotees have been gathering for the event on the banks of the River Ganga for a holy dip amid concerns over the surge in Covid-19 cases across the country.
The Kumbh Mela is being held from April 1 to 30 this year.

The state government said that till 6pm, a staggering 13,51,631 devotees [aka 1,351,631! :eek: ] had taken a dip on what is considered one of the most auspicious days of the Kumbh.

With some frightening infection-rate figures more generally, further down that article! :(
 
Potential for further calamity in Italy if the regional governments have their way.

Basically the leaders of Lombardy, Piedmont, Sicily (who have quite significant powers, like Mayors of massive counties) etc are all pushing the national government to relax restrctions, open restaurants, gyms, cinemas, and so on. The national government, who obviously has more serious scientfic advisers, is trying to push back, but the fatigue is really setting in now and the regional government leaders want to be seen as the face of the resistance to lockdown because they think it's a vote winner.

But with vaccine figures being what they are (they've only just finished vaccinating the over 80s!) ... it's obviously going to end badly if the big reopening happens right now, esepcially with all these variants and so on
 
The news from India is terrifying. And that after all the speculation about how the country must have reached some sort of herd immunity as there seemed no other explanation for the dramatic and sustained low numbers of cases over the past several months.
And of course the biggest festival in the world, that'll help.

Having this festival during the pandemic is possibly the most insane thing any country has ever done. Trump, Bolsonaro etc are nothing to allowing this to go ahead. I suppose it's such a fundamental part of their culture, I'm unsure they could actually do much to stop it. Hindu's don't view death in the same way as other cultures.

If people don't know the Kumba Mela is huge. A big year, 50 million people gather in one place. Its size varies depending on the year, the big ones are 6 and 12 years apart. There are I think 4 places in India that n accommodate such a gathering. I want to volunteer one year to experience it.

I suppose it's all outdoors? The train home might be the real problem.....
 
Having this festival during the pandemic is possibly the most insane thing any country has ever done. Trump, Bolsonaro etc are nothing to allowing this to go ahead. I suppose it's such a fundamental part of their culture, I'm unsure they could actually do much to stop it. Hindu's don't view death in the same way as other cultures.

If people don't know the Kumba Mela is huge. A big year, 50 million people gather in one place. Its size varies depending on the year, the big ones are 6 and 12 years apart. There are I think 4 places in India that n accommodate such a gathering. I want to volunteer one year to experience it.

I suppose it's all outdoors? The train home might be the real problem.....
I think any government would have struggled to tell people not to go to the holiest festival but this current one, Hindu Nationalist to the core, wouldn't have even considered trying.
I've been to one, long ago, absolutely mental. You want to "volunteer' as what?:p
 
god those weekly jumps in deaths in america seem heartbreaking.


Despite doing fairly well with vaccinations, the US average daily deaths, when adjusted for population, have been running at around five times that of the UK for the last few weeks.
 
Having this festival during the pandemic is possibly the most insane thing any country has ever done. Trump, Bolsonaro etc are nothing to allowing this to go ahead. I suppose it's such a fundamental part of their culture, I'm unsure they could actually do much to stop it. Hindu's don't view death in the same way as other cultures.

Agreeing completely :(

Allowing this is so bonkers, I had a real shock when I heard.

But I also don't think a ban could have been in any way enforced, or at least not ptoperly -- the Kumbh is so important for so many.

If people don't know the Kumba Mela is huge. A big year, 50 million people gather in one place. Its size varies depending on the year, the big ones are 6 and 12 years apart. There are I think 4 places in India that n accommodate such a gathering. I want to volunteer one year to experience it.

The Kumbh is something that in future I'd like to see in theory, but in practice, I reckon I'd be too scared/overwhelmed! :eek:

Even the so-called half-Mela, sometimes held in non mega-years, would be vast .....

I suppose it's all outdoors? The train home might be the real problem.....

From pix I've seen, there are plenty of temple-tents and the like as well as the outdoor bathing in the Ganges and so on. ......
 
I think any government would have struggled to tell people not to go to the holiest festival but this current one, Hindu Nationalist to the core, wouldn't have even considered trying.
I've been to one, long ago, absolutely mental. You want to "volunteer' as what?:p

I’m assuming there are things I could do as a non Hindu. Not looked into it. Not sure, could just go. India is amazing.
 
Things are getting grim in India, at the start of March they were reporting an average of just over 15k new cases a day, that's now over 84k, following record of over 100k being recorded on Sunday. :(

Less than 2 weeks later, and the last couple of days they have reported over 200k new cases a day, although adjusted for population that's equal to only 10k a day in the UK, but OTOH they have only carried out under a 10th of the number of tests done per million compared to the UK, so we can assume the true figure is much higher.

When it comes to deaths, they have only recorded 126 per million, but there's massive under reporting and confusion about what the true figure actually is, and there doesn't appear to be any data comparing excess deaths since the start of the pandemic, which would give a better idea of the real situation.

Rijo John, public health policy analyst and senior fellow at the Centre for Public Policy Research in Kerala, said some under-reporting is happening. He told The Lancet that “while it is true that only 21% of all deaths are medically certified in India, we should not forget that more than 65% of the total COVID-19 deaths reported in India so far are from just four states, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, and Delhi. In all these states, the death registration is 100%.”

The Lancet linky

* India is a federal union comprising 28 states and 8 union territories, for a total of 36 entities.

But, with hospitals being overwhelmed in some states, it must be pretty grim. :(

Add into the mix this so-called "double mutate Indian variant", which has already surfaced in the UK, and is currently designated a “variant under investigation”, but according to reports, is a candidate for becoming a "variant of concern" pretty soon, it's shit all round. :(
 
I’m assuming there are things I could do as a non Hindu. Not looked into it. Not sure, could just go. India is amazing.
:)
I doubt the stewards/organisers there would try and stop you -- if you were showing respect and interest, I bet they'd welcome you.
You're a braver man than me, though! -- the size of it!! :eek:

And your adventure would have to be way in the future, obviously.

More thread-relevantly though, I suspect the full Covid-impact of this year's Mela happening, has yet to be known :( :(
 
Thailand starts local lockdowns. I am off till May. Yay. Online work 4 days a week, 2 hours a day. Stuck at home thou. Glad I can avoid the three muskrats till May 1st
 
I was telling a friend that I may not even be able to vaccinated this year (in Japan) and she sent me this link. I`ve always wanted to visit Alaska so I`m going to keep an eye on this and see if they actually go through with it.
 
Less than 2 weeks later, and the last couple of days they have reported over 200k new cases a day, although adjusted for population that's equal to only 10k a day in the UK, but OTOH they have only carried out under a 10th of the number of tests done per million compared to the UK, so we can assume the true figure is much higher.

When it comes to deaths, they have only recorded 126 per million, but there's massive under reporting and confusion about what the true figure actually is, and there doesn't appear to be any data comparing excess deaths since the start of the pandemic, which would give a better idea of the real situation.



But, with hospitals being overwhelmed in some states, it must be pretty grim. :(

Add into the mix this so-called "double mutate Indian variant", which has already surfaced in the UK, and is currently designated a “variant under investigation”, but according to reports, is a candidate for becoming a "variant of concern" pretty soon, it's shit all round. :(
India’s health system has collapsed
APR 17, 2021
“We have collapsed, Maharashtra is sinking and other states will follow.”
The main difference between 2020 and 2021, doctors I meet on the ground in Maharashtra say, is that younger Indians are being infected, among them children as young as five and three. The mutations may mean that instead of calling this a pandemic borne from the coronavirus, we needed to start using the word “viruses” as this strain(s) is playing out in multiple different ways.

Meanwhile, at crematoriums and graveyards, space runs short and the heart stops. In Ghatkopar, I meet a 95-year-old man in a wheelchair waiting to bid farewell to his wife. Another man, younger, angrier, shouts out. “First there was no space in hospitals, now there is no place at the shamshan ghat… Where should we go?”

India’s health system has cracked under the weight of Covid. We are in a national emergency. The images of the election rallies, the religious congregations, the farmers protests — any mass congregation — is not just idiotic, it is an insult to the doctors at the frontline who say they are “exhausted and worn out”.

More than 800 doctors have already lost their lives to Covid. We claim to respect them and salute them every day. And yet, our utter callousness and the bizarre mixed messaging from our politicians — lockdowns for citizens, rallies for netas — are a criminal affront to every health worker on duty.

As Hemant Deshmukh, dean at Mumbai’s KEM Hospital told me, “Right now, we are discussing shortage of beds and drugs and vaccines. What if we run short of doctors?”
 
India’s health system has collapsed
APR 17, 2021
“We have collapsed, Maharashtra is sinking and other states will follow.”

India is still a rural and poor country with a population of 1.2 Billion people.
Once something like this takes hold, unless they wield an iron fist like China did, preventing people from even leaving the house, how can this be stopped?
I'm pretty sure India doesn't have anywhere near the medical capacity to deal with this apart from vaccination.
 
You know you are in trouble when aljazeera does an article on you.

Our provincial leader, Doug Ford, is upset about the covid numbers, and introduced new measures.
Stay at home policy was extended by several weeks.
Cops will stop and question you if you are outside your house. You must provide id and given valid reason.
Bunch of stuff closed. Playgrouds, tennis and golf were now off limits.

And the backlash....
Police forces refused to card anyone. It would go against the constitution.
Backlast against children playing on the swings was massive. Ford backed down.

and... the article -> Ontario’s COVID crisis: ‘This scenario was entirely preventable’
 
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