America’s top pandemic expert Dr Anthony Fauci on Tuesday said that India is in dire straits because the country made the “incorrect assumption” that they were finished with the COVID-19 pandemic and opened up prematurely.
“The reason that India is in such dire straits now is that they had an original surge and made the incorrect assumption that they were finished with it, and what happened, they opened up prematurely and wind up having a surge right now that we’re all very well aware of is extremely devastating,” Dr Fauci told the US Senate Health, Education, Labour and Pensions Committee during a hearing on Tuesday on the COVID-19 Response.
Dr Fauci, who is the Director of the US National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), is also the chief medical advisor to President Joe Biden.
Referring to India’s ‘incorrect assumption, Dr Fauci said One of the important things is don’t ever underestimate the situation,”
“India’s outbreak underscores the need for a robust public health infrastructure in the US to respond appropriately to this pandemic and future outbreaks, as well,” Senator Murray said as she asked Fauci what can the US learn from India’s outbreak.
India has been severly affected by the second wave of coronavirus wave. While the situation in major cities New Delhi and Mumbai ihas now improved, thanks to extra supplies of oxygen being sent and new hospital beds opened up, coronavirus is now spreading fast in India’s hinterland, reeling under severe oxygen shortage and a crumbling health care structure.
India recorded 348,529 fresh Covid-19 infections on Wednesday, taking the caseload tally to 23,340,938, according to according to the Ministry of Health and Welfare. Deaths from the virus surged again on Tuesday to 4,200, the highest daily toll recorded in the country till date. There have been at least 23,340,900 confirmed cases of the coronavirus in India. As of Wednesday morning, 254,197 people had died. Experts say that the death count far exceeds official figures
The World Health Organization (WHO) said the coronavirus variant first identified in the country last year was being classified as a variant of global concern, with some preliminary studies showing that it spreads more easily.
“We are classifying this as a variant of concern at a global level,” Maria Van Kerkhove, the WHO technical lead on COVID-19 told a briefing in Geneva on Monday. “There is some available information to suggest increased transmissibility.”
