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Bombay Bad Boy

Started by Chedney Honks, April 22, 2021, 10:12:27 AM

Previous topic - Next topic

Chedney Honks

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-india-56826645

India sets global record for new cases within 24 hours.

We need to get the vaccine out there pronto, it's totally fucked how it's been handled. I've not heard anything from my mate over there since before Christmas.

Glebe

Horrendous... the video in that article is traumatizing to watch.

bgmnts

Its just like the flu basically.

imitationleather

Even I questioned the wisdom of Bang Face holding an event in Mumbai last month.

Pinball

Well India is the world's biggest vaccine producer, but clearly not fast enough :-(

The awful situation in India also means Covax is buggered until India gets vaccinated, because the Serum Institute etc won't be exporting much for some time, and it is they who were going to produce 1 billion doses of the AZ vaccine for the developing world (why not 10 billion, but I digress?). So this is bad for India and for the world.

I really think more should have been invested in the manufacture of vaccines, as in an order of magnitude more.

Sebastian Cobb

Is the problem a lack of resources surrounding manufacture or people refusing to give away or licence their IP to people that could make it?

Pinball

I think it's manufacturing resource that is the issue. AZ is running this as not for profit at low dose cost, and even Pfizer is offering to sell to India at cost. 'Just' need to ramp up production now.

notjosh

The take-up rate is apparently much lower there. People have been pretty blase about it the last few months; low reported death rate, lots of talk about herd immunity etc. A general feeling that they were past the worst plus a greater suspicion about vaccines and interest in alternative medicine (just yesterday my Indian father-in-law forwarded a WhatsApp video about an ayurvedic 'steam cure') have combined to make people think it's not worth it. Have seen loads of videos of festivals and sports crowds the last few weeks and even Modi has been holding maskless political rallies. The infection rate had been creeping up and now it's exploded in a way that's genuinely terrifying. Horrible stories about overwhelmed hospitals and desperate people. Just hoping my in-laws stay sensible and come out the other side.


Icehaven

Quote from: notjosh on April 22, 2021, 10:16:44 PM
The take-up rate is apparently much lower there. People have been pretty blase about it the last few months; low reported death rate, lots of talk about herd immunity etc. A general feeling that they were past the worst plus a greater suspicion about vaccines and interest in alternative medicine (just yesterday my Indian father-in-law forwarded a WhatsApp video about an ayurvedic 'steam cure') have combined to make people think it's not worth it. Have seen loads of videos of festivals and sports crowds the last few weeks and even Modi has been holding maskless political rallies.The infection rate had been creeping up and now it's exploded in a way that's genuinely terrifying. Horrible stories about overwhelmed hospitals and desperate people. Just hoping my in-laws stay sensible and come out the other side.

I've been wondering why they seem to be peaking now rather than 10-18 months ago like most other places. Are the bits in bold along with a lack of vaccine the main reasons? Were people generally much more careful initially?

notjosh

I don't know how scientific this is, but there was definitely a suggestion earlier on that Indians typically have more robust immune systems so the virus didn't spread as easily. I believe that the major change now is the 'Indian variant' which spreads more aggressively, particularly amongst young people who had been busily getting back to normal life. The fact that they had crowds in for the England test series over there is an indication of how complacent they'd got. I guess it was because of all this that the virus was able to brew and spit out this new aggressive strain.

imitationleather

Quote from: notjosh on April 29, 2021, 02:59:05 PM
I don't know how scientific this is, but there was definitely a suggestion earlier on that Indians typically have more robust immune systems so the virus didn't spread as easily. I believe that the major change now is the 'Indian variant' which spreads more aggressively, particularly amongst young people who had been busily getting back to normal life. The fact that they had crowds in for the England test series over there is an indication of how complacent they'd got. I guess it was because of all this that the virus was able to brew and spit out this new aggressive strain.

Ooof. Reading this is just the sort of thing that's liable to ruin my day.

notjosh

Just seen The Guardian have written a piece on this:
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/apr/29/we-are-not-special-how-triumphalism-led-india-to-covid-19-disaster

I'm not sure I understand all the implications. There seems to be a suggestion that the low death rate in the first wave was just bad reporting. But it's interesting that the countries who have managed this worse all seem to have similar issues with 'exceptionalism'.

MojoJojo

Quote from: notjosh on April 29, 2021, 05:14:49 PM
Just seen The Guardian have written a piece on this:
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/apr/29/we-are-not-special-how-triumphalism-led-india-to-covid-19-disaster

I'm not sure I understand all the implications. There seems to be a suggestion that the low death rate in the first wave was just bad reporting. But it's interesting that the countries who have managed this worse all seem to have similar issues with 'exceptionalism'.

I think if you spend much time looking every country in the world has some issue with exceptionalism.

notjosh

Quote from: MojoJojo on April 30, 2021, 02:23:00 PM
I think if you spend much time looking every country in the world has some issue with exceptionalism.

Except us!


BlodwynPig

Quote from: notjosh on April 30, 2021, 06:14:15 PM
Except us!

Yes, everyone from Boris Johnson to Michael Walker saying 'it's over...we won...we won the disease'. Pricks.

JamesTC

Situation getting horrendous down there. I am a remote process manager for a team in India and I found out today that one of my team is off as his mother is hospitalised. Really worried for them all.

Pinball

Modi still refusing to lockdown. Amazing really. Is life that cheap to him? Not his obviously. That's gold-plated in a Rolls-Royce, with daily Covid testing a la Trump.

idunnosomename

come onnnnn indian variant. take down bedford. want to stay in bed forever

Glebe

Absolutely harrowing, heart-breaking situation, some of the news footage is unbearable to watch. Going to donate to one of the appeals, a tiny, tiny, drop in the ocean I know but there you go.

bgmnts

Quote from: Pinball on May 04, 2021, 11:04:48 PM
Modi still refusing to lockdown. Amazing really. Is life that cheap to him? Not his obviously. That's gold-plated in a Rolls-Royce, with daily Covid testing a la Trump.

It is strange considering how populous and, presumably, densely packed a place, at least the urbanised areas, it is. How much of India's economy is reliant on physical exports I suppose is the question?

I thought India was at the forefront of software and information technology and a lot of the GDP came from those sectors.

NoSleep

John McLaughlin just told me to send some dosh to Project HOPE, so I obeyed:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EpCnip9cp30

https://www.projecthope.org

MojoJojo

Quote from: Pinball on May 04, 2021, 11:04:48 PM
Modi still refusing to lockdown. Amazing really. Is life that cheap to him? Not his obviously. That's gold-plated in a Rolls-Royce, with daily Covid testing a la Trump.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2002_Gujarat_riots

Muslim lives certainly are.

Shoulders?-Stomach!

India's headline figure is large but as the country is so populous the number of deaths works out as 45th in the world per million population in the last 7 days.

Though the fact the healthcare system is breaking down shows just how inadequate it is.

JamesTC

That is the number of reported deaths of course. There is very good reason to believe that is significantly lower than reality. Even more so than the suppression that the likes of the UK for up to with the numbers.

Guy in my team over there has a brother critically ill as well as his mother.


bgmnts

Indian variant hitting the news here now right? I suppose the news needs another angle on this.

Barry Admin

The speed this shit spreads at is still astonishing to me:

Quote from: BBC"There are now 86 local authorities where there are five or more confirmed cases," he said. There are 343 local authorities in England.

Mr Hancock said the Indian variant was now the dominant strain of the virus in Bolton as well as Blackburn and Darwen and was rising in all age groups.