Indian Prime Minister Modi loses state election amid criticism of pandemic response

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Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modis’s party lost a key state in elections over the weekend amid growing criticism over its handling of the worsening Covid-19 crisis in the country.

India recorded more than 300,000 new cases for the 12th day in a row on Monday, bringing the total number of infections in the country to nearly 20 million, according to figures from the Ministry of Health. Experts fear the real number may be 10 times higher in the country of more than 1.35 billion people.

The country also reported more than 218,000 deaths on Monday, the third highest death toll in the world after the United States and Brazil.

Hospitals across India continued to face a lack of medical oxygen supplies and beds in intensive care units, as entire families tested positive flood hospitals. This has left hospitals overwhelmed, with patients dying due to shortages of supplies.

Meanwhile, a New Delhi court has said it will punish government officials if allocated oxygen supplies are not delivered to hospitals, the Associated Press reported.

India, a country that makes vaccines for the rest of the world, faces a national shortage. The government announced last week that vaccination centers in Mumbai had to close due to reduced supply.

Health workers in PPE treat Covid-19 patients on Sunday at a temporary facility set up for those suffering from the virus in New Delhi.Tauseef Mustafa / AFP – Getty Images

Despite Modis’ frequent visits to the state of West Bengal in recent weeks to campaign, his Bharatiya Janata party failed to win the election. Experts said massive party rallies, as well as mass rallies for religious congregations like the month-long Kumbh Mela in Haridwar, have exacerbated the spread of the virus.

Modi’s party also lost in the southern states of Kerala and Tamil Nadu, but won in Pondicherry and retained power in the northeastern state of Assam.

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee is set to win the state for the third time. Speaking at a press conference in Kolkata, the capital of West Bengal, Banarjee said tackling Covid-19 would be his government’s top priority in the state of nearly 100 million people.

India also broke a world record over the weekend, crossing 400,000 daily infections in a single day, as the Modis government receives criticism for not preparing for this painful second wave.

The pressure on Modi is increasing both internationally and nationally. Dr Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, told The Indian Express newspaper that in order for India to tackle the very difficult and desperate situation, a temporary shutdown of the country would be a necessary step. .

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No one likes to lock the country down. Well, that’s a problem when you do it for six months, he says. But if you only do it for a few weeks, you could have a significant impact on the dynamics of the outbreak.

Although a number of Indian states, including the capital New Delhi, have declared independent lockdowns in recent weeks, the government has not imposed a national lockdown similar to the one put in place in March 2020.

In its fight against the virus, India has received aid and supplies from several countries, including the United States. Administration officials said they were sending oxygen supplies, raw materials for vaccine production as well as rapid test kits. The US Agency for International Development tweeted that a fourth US plane carrying 20,000 cartridges of the Remdesivir treatment drug arrived in India on Monday.

However, many countries have also placed travel restrictions on India, including the United States, United Kingdom, Australia, Canada, Germany and New Zealand, among others.

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