Chhattisgarh has reported more than 3.5 lakh of Covid cases since the pandemic began.
Durg, Chhattisgarh:
Far from the multitude of reports on the coronavirus situation in major urban centers, Durg, a small town in a Chhattisgarh district of the same name, is at the heart of an untold crisis.
The district is the hardest hit in a state facing a massive increase in Covid infections as a second wave threatens to break out.
Bodies are piling up at the local morgue: 38 people have died in the last seven days. In hospitals, doctors are overwhelmed: more than 6,000 have been infected in the last seven days.
With authorities unable to cope with the spate of infections and deaths, the state has announced a full, week-long shutdown in the district, but that only begins on Tuesday.
The situation at a 500-bed government hospital in Durg is particularly worrying.
The morgue here has eight freezers, but 27 corpses, and doctors say they are struggling to deliver them to relatives as soon as possible.
“So far no alternative arrangements have been made (to deal with the Covid crisis). We have been informed about the accumulation of bodies in the morgue … we are investigating this,” said Dr. PR Balkishor, Superintendent Durg’s Chief Physician told NDTV.
“Every day four to five people die from Covid. It is because, in most cases, patients are admitted in critical condition … when oxygen levels have dropped to 40 or 50 percent,” he explained.
Dr Balkishor also revealed a shortage of medical staff and, in what could be a problem for people suffering from other illnesses and ailments, said: “We are trying to withdraw non-Covid services.”
Away from the morgue, equally heartbreaking scenes can be witnessed at a local crematorium, where surprised relatives in EPP suits perform the last rites of their loved ones.
The images are a replay of the horrors that emerged during India’s first Covid wave, when scenes like these were reported across the country.
The proposed one-week lockdown may not be enough to completely stop the spread of the virus.
In the past fortnight, Chhattisgarh’s number of active cases has risen by an unlikely 369 percent, from 6,753 on March 20 to 28,987 on April 2 … and things appear to be getting worse.
The center Friday night listed the state as one of 11 marked “serious concern.” Days earlier, a core team of medical experts had been flown to Chhattisgarh to help fight the virus.
The increase in cases is not unique to Chhattisgarh (Maharashtra is the worst affected state with tens of thousands of new cases being reported every day), but it is an emergency of critical proportions.
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