Covid 19 in India

Richard Hillman

I don't know if it's a PR thing to try and convince people who are resistant to getting the vaccine but there have been a few high profile cricketers (and even the WAGs) being vaccinated over the last 24 hours.

I feel uncomfortable seeing it. If Irish sports people were getting vaccinated when only 10% of the population had their first, we would be fuming.

But again, India could have a larger proportion of people who would be against being vaccinated and they want to say "hey Virat Kohli has his, get yours".

wes

Richard Hillman wrote: »

I don't know if it's a PR thing to try and convince people who are resistant to getting the vaccine but there have been a few high profile cricketers (and even the WAGs) being vaccinated over the last 24 hours.

I feel uncomfortable seeing it. If Irish sports people were getting vaccinated when only 10% of the population had their first, we would be fuming.

But again, India could have a larger proportion of people who would be against being vaccinated and they want to say "hey Virat Kohli has his, get yours".

Vaccine hesitancy is not an issue in India yet, as they don't have enough vaccines. Also, they are charging for them.

It is pretty blatant they are vaccinating the rich etc, so they don't flee the country and trying to make out it is to fight vaccine hesitancy, which again not an issue as they don't have enough for that to be problem yet, and again making vaccines free would have a better effect, once they have supply.

Honestly, didn't think the Indian government could sink any lower, but here we are.

bodhrandude

Could the Indian pandemic spill into the Chinese border again, that's what I'm wondering.

positron

There are very few border crossings between India and China, thanks the the Himalayas. Nepal is the buffer between the countries.

Kohli and other cricketers are getting vaccinated as they have a tour coming up soon (to England).

India captain Virat Kohli got first shot of vaccination for Covid-19 ahead of England tour on Monday. The 32-year-old shared a picture him getting the vaccination and wrote, "Vaccinate as soon as you can please. Stay safe.".

Team India will very soon leave for England tour consisting of the World Test Championship (WTC) final verus New Zealand and 5 Tests against Joe Root's men starting August 4.

Earlier this month India lowered the 'eligibility to receive free vaccine' age from 45 to 18. Which, predictably, triggered massive vaccine shortages. Also there were some hesitation in taking up the vaccination before this spike - especially in certain religious groups. I am sure hope that has changed since the current spike.

Cordell

Richard Hillman wrote: »

If Irish sports people were getting vaccinated when only 10% of the population had their first, we would be fuming.

Not the same situation though, here people don't need convincing, the vast majority want the vaccine but it's not their turn yet.

In other places they pull this PR stunt and organize all kind of vaccination events (drive through marathons etc) because people are reluctant hence they have enough unused doses to afford it.

positron

wes wrote: »

Vaccine hesitancy is not an issue in India yet, as they don't have enough vaccines. Also, they are charging for them.

It is pretty blatant they are vaccinating the rich etc, so they don't flee the country and trying to make out it is to fight vaccine hesitancy, which again not an issue as they don't have enough for that to be problem yet, and again making vaccines free would have a better effect, once they have supply.

Honestly, didn't think the Indian government could sink any lower, but here we are.

:rolleyes:

wes

positron wrote: »

:rolleyes:

India doesn't have enough vaccines for vaccine hesitancy to be an issue just yet. The US is only now hitting vaccine hesitancy. France, which is uniquely vaccine hesitant in Europe is only hitting it now.

India doesn't have anywhere near enough vaccines to have hit any kind of issues with vaccine hesitancy just yet.

Also, I will reiterate another problem, is that a lot Indian states are charging for vaccine. Making the vaccine free would do far more for the vaccine program, than giving it to rich people.

wes

Dozens of suspected Covid victims wash up on Ganges River banks


Locals believe bodies were dumped in river because cremation sites are overwhelmed

Dozens of bodies believed to be Covid-19 victims have washed up on the banks of the Ganges River in northern India as the pandemic spreads into India’s vast rural hinterland, overwhelming local health facilities as well as crematoriums and cemeteries.

Click here for full article

A real sad state of affairs. Poor people.

Triple mutant now variant of concern:
WHO classifies triple-mutant Covid variant from India as global health risk

funnydoggy

wes wrote: »

Triple mutant now variant of concern:
WHO classifies triple-mutant Covid variant from India as global health risk

Good explanation of the "triple mutation" term being media scaremongering:


https://www.reddit.com/r/askscience/comments/mvjapr/india_is_now_experiencing_double_and_triple/gvdf6bf/

The double mutant name is a highly inaccurate media garbage. Most variants have more than two mutations.

This variant is concerning because it has two mutations on the RBD, which is a binding site for antibodies. It has an E484Q mutation which is very similar to E484K and confers some antibody resistance, and L452R which is known to increase transmissibility moderately and confer a very minor amount of antibody resistance (its like N501Y on the B.1.1.7/UK variant). This combination of mutations hasn’t been seen before, although a combination of similar mutations (E484K and N501Y) is found on the B1.135/South African variant and the P.1/Brazilian variant (the South African variant has some other mutations on it too that make it particularly resistant to antibodies).

It’s worth noting that the South African variant actually already has 3 mutations on the RBD as well, technically also making it a “triple mutant”. For some reason some media outlets decided to start calling this variant from India a double mutant, and then people just ran with it, irresponsibly might I add.

We don’t know how vaccines will perform because it hasn’t been tested, but given those mutations and what we know about the SA variant, likely vaccines will still be effective but less so.

silverharp

has the whole India story been overhyped? their 7 day averages are flattening not pointing straight up

RebelButtMunch

silverharp wrote: »

has the whole India story been overhyped? their 7 day averages are flattening not pointing straight up

Do you believe the official numbers?

Crematoriums overflowing
people having to source their own O2
people having to source their own wood
people getting cpr from family members outside the hospital
Overhyped? no.

silverharp

RebelButtMunch wrote: »

Do you believe the official numbers?

Crematoriums overflowing
people having to source their own O2
people having to source their own wood
people getting cpr from family members outside the hospital
Overhyped? no.

I'd expect the official numbers to be directionally true. India has a thin health service so sure they will have problems that you wouldnt get in Europe say.

positron

silverharp wrote: »

has the whole India story been overhyped? their 7 day averages are flattening not pointing straight up

They have introduced severe lockdowns in most states.

silverharp

silverharp wrote: »

I'd expect the official numbers to be directionally true. India has a thin health service so sure they will have problems that you wouldnt get in Europe say.

Its limited health services creates an artificial upper bound on their metrics. If the only have limited capacity, once that is reached the metrics will peak while growth continues.

positron

There's the limit as mentioned above - we don't know how many are dying without even making to a hospital / health center, but beyond that, in some states at least, there is also serious under reporting going on as well. Attributing deaths to the co-morbidity that caused the death when Covid struck etc.

fly_agaric

silverharp wrote: »

has the whole India story been overhyped? their 7 day averages are flattening not pointing straight up

Only in sense that there really is a decent-sized minority of people who think that Covid is "overhyped" and governments generally "overreacted".

The disease obviously got completely out of control in India, as seen in other places previously, alot of people are getting sick and dying and health services that were not great anyway are not functioning normally + people who work in them are under extreme pressures.

However as you can see from the very long running "relaxation of restrictions" thread here, alot of people believe that public health related restrictions on freedoms or other society-level changes made to fight the disease are unacceptable and are extremely angry about what they see as "overhyping" the disease and the authority and trust given to health professionals as regards implementing of measures to control it. Some of these types run countries (Brazil, US under Trump)!

Have to say this utter callousness and selfishness (and stupidity as well really) is what I've found most shocking about the whole pandemic.

ginoginelli

fly_agaric wrote: »

Only in sense that there really is a decent-sized minority of people who think that Covid is "overhyped" and governments generally "overreacted".

The disease obviously got completely out of control in India, as seen in other places previously, alot of people are getting sick and dying and health services that were not great anyway are not functioning normally + people who work in them are under extreme pressures.

However as you can see from the very long running "relaxation of restrictions" thread here, alot of people believe that public health related restrictions on freedoms or other society-level changes made to fight the disease are unacceptable and are extremely angry about what they see as "overhyping" the disease and the authority and trust given to health professionals as regards implementing of measures to control it. Some of these types run countries (Brazil, US under Trump)!

Have to say this utter callousness and selfishness (and stupidity as well really) is what I've found most shocking about the whole pandemic.

That thread is so sad. The lack of humanity and sheer stupidity is really shocking.

For the most part it's just made up of blow hard trolls with very little impact on real life - thank god.

It still makes for some very disturbing reading though.

silverharp

fly_agaric wrote: »

Only in sense that there really is a decent-sized minority of people who think that Covid is "overhyped" and governments generally "overreacted".

The disease obviously got completely out of control in India, as seen in other places previously, alot of people are getting sick and dying and health services that were not great anyway are not functioning normally + people who work in them are under extreme pressures.

However as you can see from the very long running "relaxation of restrictions" thread here, alot of people believe that public health related restrictions on freedoms or other society-level changes made to fight the disease are unacceptable and are extremely angry about what they see as "overhyping" the disease and the authority and trust given to health professionals as regards implementing of measures to control it. Some of these types run countries (Brazil, US under Trump)!

Have to say this utter callousness and selfishness (and stupidity as well really) is what I've found most shocking about the whole pandemic.

in a country like India, its complicated by the fact that they cant pay a billion people to chill and watch netflix for a year. Im guessing there are a couple of hundred million people that were getting paid daily in the cash economy, that are a week away from an empty cupboard or losing their accomodation.

igCorcaigh

silverharp wrote: »

has the whole India story been overhyped? their 7 day averages are flattening not pointing straight up

I'd like to know how their testing capacity is holding up to the demand. And the figures themselves are widely considered a big underestimate.

Any positivity rates available from there?

igCorcaigh

[Deleted User] wrote: »

Uk variant is the most common one in India

Yes; apologies, I meant in certain areas. The growth rate of the Indian variant does seem to be high though.

Can't quite remember now where I saw the charts.

positron

igCorcaigh wrote: »

Any positivity rates available from there?

It varies from state to state, but it's around 27% in Kerala right now.

You can see that and all other up to date status of the Covid fight in Kerala state on this fantastic dashboard that Kerala government maintains.

https://dashboard.kerala.gov.in/

igCorcaigh

positron wrote: »

It varies from state to state, but it's around 27% in Kerala right now.

You can see that and all other up to date status of the Covid fight in Kerala state on this fantastic dashboard that Kerala government maintains.

https://dashboard.kerala.gov.in/

Kerala state, communist run. They seem to be able to handle it well. I think India, like Brazil and UK, will regret voting in the right wing populists.

(sorry for being OT political, but it is relevant)

SouthWesterly

igCorcaigh wrote: »

Kerala state, communist run. They seem to be able to handle it well. I think India, like Brazil and UK, will regret voting in the right wing populists.

(sorry for being OT political, but it is relevant)

Kerala is a wealthy state by comparison to the rest.
I travelled the length of the country a few years ago. The contrast was stark. Didn't see the open poverty that you see in the likes of Dehli. Doesn't mean it's not there

bb1234567

Neighboring Nepal's death reporting probably give a slightly more clear picture of how many are dying in India. Nepal reported 225 deaths today, would be the same as over 10,000 dying daily in India.

bb1234567

bb1234567 wrote: »

Neighboring Nepal's death reporting probably give a slightly more clear picture of how many are dying in India. Nepal reported 225 deaths today, would be the same as over 10,000 dying daily in India.

Getting an true picture in Nepal is probably even more challenging than in India due to geography

bb1234567

silverharp wrote: »

has the whole India story been overhyped? their 7 day averages are flattening not pointing straight up

I know people living in India and for once in the pandemic I'd say media coverage of the disaster is actually less exaggerated than the reality indicates

pottokblue

Watching the reports from India gives me nightmares. I had bad experiences here in Ireland March April 2020 and Jan Feb 2021 but nothing on the scale of BBC World News 24 India coverage. When we hit the annual trolley crisis this winter I hope we will be ok with O2 supply

Polar101

I work for a multinational company, and there's a company-wide Covid support chat - the last few months it was mostly Americans chatting about their vaccine experiences. Now it's Indians sharing info on where to find free ICU beds or oxygen concentrators. It's pretty shocking actually - I haven't seen anything like it since this whole thing started.

At least they're starting to vaccinate employees next week, maybe that will help.

MadYaker

silverharp wrote: »

I'd expect the official numbers to be directionally true. India has a thin health service so sure they will have problems that you wouldnt get in Europe say.

They only have capacity to record cases at a certain level, once that capacity is reached the methods by which they record data become inundated and the numbers level out but the real world situation continues to get worse. We'll never know how many people were infected and died in this wave.

pottokblue wrote: »

Watching the reports from India gives me nightmares. I had bad experiences here in Ireland March April 2020 and Jan Feb 2021 but nothing on the scale of BBC World News 24 India coverage. When we hit the annual trolley crisis this winter I hope we will be ok with O2 supply

Maybe it's wrong of me but I'm purposely not really following the indian situation closely. Ignorance is bliss imo.

wes

Rare fungal infections that destroy eyeballs and kill are on the rise in India


When it rains it pours. So not only do Indians have to deal with covid, now covid is making a flesh eating fungus more prevalent. I guess this is something we never considered, that covid, could trigger other diseases to get worse as well.