India’s coronavirus cases surge past half a million

India‘s confirmed coronavirus cases crossed half a million on Saturday with another record 24-hour jump of 18,552 infections.  

The Health Ministry also reported 384 new deaths, raising the total to 15,685. 

The country has now seen 508,953 confirmed cases of Covid-19, making it the country with the fourth-highest number of cases after the United States, Brazil and Russia.

The surge prompted authorities in the northeastern state of Assam to impose a two-week lockdown in the state capital of Gauhati. About 700 new cases were reported there in just four days.

Health Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said the rest of Assam will be placed under a night curfew and weekend lockdowns.

He urged people to store essential goods and signaled a tighter lockdown where even grocery stores would be closed. 

India’s capital – Delhi – home to 25 million people, is the country’s worst-hit city. Its hospitals are at a breaking point and authorities reaching deep to confront the crisis, converting some hotels into makeshift coronavirus wards.

‘For doctors and nurses it is a part of their lives. For us this is a totally new experience and a very difficult one at that,’ said Ritu Yadav, operations manager at the five-star Suryaa, as staff in masks rush to deep clean the building.

‘We have got training from the hospital on how to wear the PPE and then take it off but this is something I never thought I would have to do when I chose hospitality as my career.’

Home to some of India’s most crowded slums, Delhi has around 75,000 cases so far, but the city government predicts this will soar to half a million by the end of July.

With newspapers full of reports about patients being turned away from overflowing hospitals, Delhi told the city’s hotels earlier this month they would be roped in to provide hospital care.

It is also converting wedding halls, and has several hundred repurposed railway coaches standing by — without air conditioning despite outside temperatures over 40 degrees Celsius (105 Fahrenheit).

The Delhi authorities have even started converting a spiritual centre or ashram into a coronavirus isolation facility and hospital with 10,000 beds, many made of cardboard.

But for hotels, the move triggered outrage in an industry already reeling under losses because of travel restrictions.

The owners of Suryaa and four others approached the court, arguing many staff were over 50 and therefore were high-risk themselves, with no experience of hospital care or handling bio-medical waste. 

‘It came as a shock because we were not spoken to about it, we got to know through the press,’ Greesh Bindra, a top executive at the hotel, told AFP.

‘It’s like you are sleeping in a hotel and the next morning when you wake up you are told your hotel has become a hospital. Your first reaction will be how is this possible. We are hospitality, not a hospital.’

The hotel won a reprieve from the court – of sorts.

Instead of becoming a hospital, it could act as a Covid care centre, housing patients on their way to recovery with mild to moderate symptoms.

It and around 30 other hotels in Delhi are set to be attached to hospitals which will provide staff to deal with any emergency.

The hotels can charge a maximum $66 a day, including meals. But they and their employees, used just to changing bedsheets and providing room service, have had to improvise and innovate.

From using disposable plates and drawing red lines to ensure social distancing, they have minimum contact with their special guests.

‘You have to keep your staff safe as after all they are your people,’ said Bindra, whose hotel will be offering 200 beds.

But whether the efforts of the Delhi government – which is squabbling with the federal government of Prime Minister Narendra Modi – will be enough is unclear.

Delhi has just over 13,000 beds for coronavirus patients in public and private hospitals. The city government forecasts it will need 80,000 beds by the end of July.

The government has cancelled leave of all healthcare staff and plans to rope in volunteers to fight the crisis.

It has refused to reimpose a lockdown, as the southern city of Chennai has done.

Many in Delhi are worried and are taking matters into their own hands.

Some resident welfare associations are buying oxygen cylinders and other equipment, while using vacant flats as isolation wards — exposing the lack of trust in authorities.

‘One of our residents lost his life just because he couldn’t get a bed in time. Then we thought we should do something at our level,’ said Lokesh Munjal, the head of a west Delhi housing society.

‘We don’t want to be at the mercy of government and hospitals.’

Meanwhile, China has reported an uptick in new coronavirus cases, a day after the nation’s CDC said it expects an outbreak in Beijing to be brought under control soon. 

The National Health Commission said Saturday that 21 cases had been confirmed nationwide in the latest 24-hour period, including 17 in the nation’s capital. 

City officials have temporarily shut a huge wholesale food market where the virus spread widely, re-closed schools and locked down some neighborhoods. 

According to China’s CDC, testing has found only a few infected people without a link to the market and that the steps taken mean the risk of further spread is low, the official Xinhua News Agency said. 

Anyone leaving Beijing is required to have a negative result from a nucleic acid test within the previous seven days. 

Many Chinese are traveling during a four-day holiday weekend that ends Sunday. 

China has reported 83,483 confirmed cases and 4,634 deaths in the pandemic. People who test positive but show no symptoms are not included in its official case count.

South Korea has reported 51 newly confirmed cases of the coronavirus as fresh clusters continue to emerge in the densely populated Seoul area. 

They bring the national caseload to 12,653, including 282 deaths. Thirty-five of the new cases came from Seoul and nearby cities and towns, which have been at the center of a COVID-19 resurgence since late May. 

Twelve others were linked to international arrivals. Health authorities are struggling to trace contacts and predict infection routes with new clusters popping up from just about everywhere. 

Hundreds of infections have been linked to nightspots, church gatherings, restaurants and low-income workers such as door-to-door salespeople and warehouse employees.

Officials have so far resisted calls to reimpose stronger social distancing guidelines after easing them in mid-April, citing concerns about a fragile economy. 

Sri Lanka reopened cinemas on Saturday as part of the island nation’s efforts to return to normalcy following more than two months of lockdown to contain the coronavirus. 

Patrons are required to follow health guidelines such as hand washing and wearing face masks. 

A seat must be kept vacant between patrons in a bid to maintain social distancing, and cinemas are only allowed to reach half capacity. 

Previously, Sri Lanka reopened places of worships, wildlife parks and zoos. 

The country has confirmed 2,014 cases of the coronavirus, including 11 deaths.