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A chain of countries, from Laos to Thailand in Southeast Asia, and those bordering India like Bhutan and Nepal, have reported major outbreaks of infections in recent weeks. This increase in infections has been largely driven by more contagious strains of the virus, although population tranquility and lack of resources to control the spread have also been cited as causes of the outbreak.
In Laos, last week, with the number of cases increasing more than 200 times a month, the Health Minister began an active search for medical equipment, resource supplies and treatments. In Nepal, hospitals are filling at lightning speed and medical oxygen supplies are running low. In Thailand, where 98 percent. new cases are associated with a more contagious strain of the pathogen, healthcare facilities are under heavy pressure, while some Pacific island states are facing the first waves of COVID.
While none of these countries can match India in terms of population or outbreak size, the rise in infections in this handful of countries is much more acute and poses a potential risk of uncontrolled spread. Repeated waves of the virus, and the first outbreaks of outbreaks in some of the areas that actually averted disaster last year, increase the need to provide vaccines to the poorest and lighter countries as soon as possible and to halt the protracted pandemic. .
“It is important to understand that the Indian scenario is available anywhere,” Hans Kluge, director of the European Region of the World Health Organization (WHO), said at a press conference last week. “It is still a great challenge.”
Laos, famous for a record number of new infections in April, ranked in a leading position compared to March, followed by Nepal and Thailand, with new cases exceeding 1,000 percent in both countries. compared to the previous month.
At the top of the list are Bhutan, Trinidad and Tobago, Suriname, Cambodia and Fiji, where the epidemic broke out with triple-digit growth.
“Every country is at risk,” said David Heymann, professor of infectious disease epidemiology at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine (LSHTM). “The disease appears to become endemic and therefore is likely to endanger all countries in the near future.”
On May 1, India reported a record number of new cases of 401,993 on the last day, and the number of deaths the following day also reached new highs, 3,689. The country’s hospitals and crematoriums work overtime as the number of patients and victims increases. The crisis is also exacerbated by a lack of medical oxygen, preventing healthcare facilities from treating patients with coronavirus-damaged lungs that trap air at their doorstep.
The sudden outbreak in Laos, an area where only 60 cases and no deaths have been recorded as of April 20 since the pandemic began, shows the challenges some landlocked countries face. Poorly protected land borders hamper efforts to prevent illegal border crossings, although entry is officially prohibited. Laos ruled by the communists imposed a quarantine on its capital, Vientiane, and prohibited movement between the capital and the provinces. The country’s health minister has reached out to neighbors like Vietnam with a request to provide the country with life-saving resources. The outbreaks in Nepal and Bhutan are partly related to the return of compatriots. Nepal, which has identified cases of a new Indian strain, has limited resources to combat the virus.
“We need to act now”
The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies has reported a rapid increase in COVID-19 cases in Nepal.
Just a month ago in this Himalayan country with 31 million. population, about 100 cases of COVID-19 were recorded per day. Now that number exceeds 8,600.
“The situation is getting worse with each passing day and may become unmanageable in the future,” a spokesman for Nepal’s Ministry of Health and Population said on Monday. Samiras Adhikari.
Although the Nepalese authorities have tightened border controls and introduced quarantine in the worst affected regions, including the capital, some people fear that such measures are not enough to control the coronavirus that is spreading in the capital and even reached the base camp of the Everest, Reuters reports.
“We must act now and we must act quickly if we are to manage this humanitarian catastrophe. The virus transcends borders and mutant strains are rampant in Asia,” said Alexander Matheou, director of Asia-Pacific affairs for the International Federation of Societies of the Red Cross and Red Crescent based in Geneva, representing the global humanitarian aid network.
Now there are 57 times more cases in Nepal than a month ago; 44 percent test result is positive, it will be indicated in the statement. Nepalese cities near the Indian border are not coping with the growing number of people in need of treatment. Furthermore, only 1% received both vaccines. population of the country.
“What is happening in India now is a dire picture of the future of Nepal if we fail to control the latest outbreak of COVID-19, which is claiming more and more lives every day,” said Netra Prasad Timsina, President of the Red Cross. from Nepal.
“It is terrible that people cannot say goodbye to their loved ones because the new strains of coronavirus, which are claiming the lives of people of all ages in Nepal, have record cremation rates,” he added.
The statement notes that with the spread of the COVID-19 outbreak, India’s other neighbors have also been put at risk and that intensive care units in Pakistani and Bangladeshi hospitals are full or almost full.
“Very serious”
The situation is “very dire,” says Ali Mokdad, a senior public health strategy official at the University of Washington. “The new strains will need a new vaccine and support measures for those who have already been vaccinated,” they will delay efforts to control the pandemic, “he says.
According to Mokdad, the economic difficulties of the poorer states make this fight even fiercer.
Thailand, which has tried to revive its successful tourism industry, has reintroduced the mandatory two-week quarantine for all newcomers. Government 2021 tourism revenue forecast has been lowered from 260 billion. shoes (January forecast) to 170 billion. shoes ($ 5.4 billion). The country’s government, under intense pressure from the health system, is trying to build field hospitals to accommodate large flows of patients.
About 98 percent. cases in Thailand, based on data from 500 people related to a strain first detected in the UK, says Yong Poovorawan, director of the Center of Competence in Clinical Virology at Chulalongkorn University.
Red zone
In Cambodia, more than 10,000 local cases have been detected in more than 20 provinces since the current outbreak began. Cambodia’s capital, Phnom Penh, has now become a “red zone” or high-risk focus zone.
In Sri Lanka, an island nation on the southern outskirts of India, authorities cut off individual areas, banned weddings and gatherings, and visited closed cinemas and bars in hopes of halting the record jump after local New Years celebrations in April. The government claims that the situation is under control.
Trinidad and Tobago announced the introduction of partial quarantine after the country’s daily incidence reached record levels; restaurants, supermarkets and cinemas will be closed at the end of May. In the past month, the number of infections was around 700 percent. higher compared to the previous month. This jump in cases is also taking place in Suriname, on the northeast coast of South America. In April, the number of infections here was more than 600 percent higher than in March.
Some Pacific island states, which did not face COVID-19 in the past due to strict border controls, are now experiencing the first wave of contagion. Cities in Fiji, a favorite city for tourists, have closed after a large portion of the public was infected with the army’s coronavirus.
“The recent surge in cases in the Pacific highlights the importance of not only strong border security, but also a real opportunity to deliver vaccines to these countries,” said Jonathan Prykje, who led the Pacific study at the Lowy Institute in Sydney. – India is a shocking warning for this part of the world. His example shows how quickly this pandemic can become unmanageable. “
Developed countries recovering from pandemics through vaccination have a responsibility to contribute to a fairer global distribution of vaccines, diagnostic tests and treatments, including medical oxygen, says Heymann, professor at the School of Hygiene and London Tropical Medicine (LSHTM).
The world still cannot boast of a coordinated global response, and that is concerning, said Jennifer Nuzzo, a senior health researcher at the Johns Hopkins Center in Baltimore.
The return to normal living standards by 2020 “really depends on the most active effort possible to help countries control the virus,” he said. “I am very hopeful that the parties will dig into this and decide how they can help.”
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