Indian doctors have warned that the country must prepare to face an ‘onslaught’ of cases that could cripple the health system after it suffered its first death.
A 56-year-old man died due to Covid-19-related illness in Dharavi slum, in Mumbai on Wednesday.
The Dharavi slum is home to roughly one million people and its population density is 60 times greater than London – about 280,000 people per square kilometre.
A 56-year-old man died due to Covid-19-related illness in Dharavi slum, in Mumbai on Wednesday. Pictured are repatriated Indian citizens after leaving quarantine at a hospital in Bangalore
Indian doctors have warned that the country must prepare to face an ‘onslaught’ of cases that could cripple the health system after it suffered its first death. Pictured are citizens of Rohini village in India
In Thailand, newborn babies are being protected with miniature face visors while they are in hospital
Dr. Naresh Trehan, chairman and managing director of the Medanta-the Medicity hospital in Gurugram, near New Delhi, told CNN: ‘Once we know that one slum has got it, and we lock it down, and we feed everybody and we keep them isolated for the next two weeks, we keep them well fed, it will work its way out.
‘We will know the critical ones, and the ones who are mild, they can be quarantined at home, and the population at large can be monitored.’
Coronavirus cases in India nearly doubled in just four days, and its current total is 2,547. Some 62 people have died from the disease.
Doctors say they hope the lockdown will delay the peak of infections so hospitals have a fighting chance to treat incoming caseloads.
Coronavirus cases in India nearly doubled in just four days, and its current total is 2,547. Some 62 people have died from the disease
Dr Om Shrivastav, director of Infectious Diseases at Kasturba Hospital in Mumbai, said his worst fear is that India only starts preparing for the crisis ‘after it’s on our hands.’
India has been under lockdown for four weeks now and its Prime Minister Narendra Modi has called for citizens to switch off lights on Sunday evening for nine minutes and instead use candles to ‘challenge the darkness’ of the coronavirus.
In Russia, a doctor has been arrested after challenging coronavirus figures being released by the state.
Anastasia Vasilieva, head of the Alliance of Doctors – an independent doctors’ union, is an outspoken critic of the Kremlin.
India has been under lockdown for four weeks now and its Prime Minister Narendra Modi has called for citizens to switch off lights on Sunday evening for nine minutes and instead use candles to ‘challenge the darkness’ of the coronavirus. Pictured is a worker on a train carriage that has been converted into an isolation ward
She dismissed their official number of coronavirus deaths and infections as lies. The Kremlin claim that 45 people have died from coronavirus in Russia, while 5,389 are infected.
Before her arrest, Dr Vasilieva said she had been called in for questioning over her comments, declaring that ‘You can send whomever you want to get me — the Federal Security Service, the fire service — but the truth will not change.’
The real number of coronavirus cases, she said, ‘is much higher than the authorities say.’ She provided no evidence of any cover-up.
Her detention also increased skepticism about the readiness of Russia’s health care system to cope with the pandemic.
In Russia, a doctor has been arrested after challenging coronavirus figures being released by the state. Pictured are medical workers in Moscow
The virus has also slowed Russia’s economy, posing another problem for the Kremlin less than a month after it pushed through constitutional changes to allow Mr. Putin to dispense with term limits and stay in power until 2036.
The Kremlin said that Vladamir Putin has been tested regularly and that ‘everything is OK.’
On Friday, Russia suspended the last remaining flights into the country, halting even special flights bringing Russians home from abroad, the Interfax news agency reported. All land borders have already been closed.
Moscow, St Petersburg and many Russian regions this week ordered residents not to leave their homes except to buy food and medicine or walk their dogs.
The Kremlin claim that 45 people have died from coronavirus in Russia, while 5,389 are infected. Pictured are workers at the construction site of a new coronavirus hospital in Moscow
Dr Vasilieva appeared in court on Friday charged with disobeying police orders and violating quarantine restrictions but was released later that day after paying a small fine.
The Prime Minister of Denmark has announced that the country will slowly begin to lift its lockdown measures.
Mette Frederiksen shut the country down three weeks ago. He said: ‘When we open our society again, we have to do it gradually and we have to make it staggered.’
More than 4,000 cases of coronavirus have been confirmed in Denmark.
Some 161 have died, 1,283 recovered and 507 are in hospital, including 142 in intensive care.
On Friday, Russia suspended the last remaining flights into the country, halting even special flights bringing Russians home from abroad. Pictured is a food delivery driver on a swing in Moscow during lockdown
In Thailand, newborn babies are being protected with miniature face visors while they are in hospital.
More than 1.2million cases, including 65,272 deaths, have been reported in 190 countries and territories around the world since the virus first emerged in China in December, according to an AFP tally.
Italy has the highest official death toll with 15,362 fatalities. Spain follows with 12,418, the United States is on 8,503, France 7,560 and Britain 4,313.
Spain saw its third consecutive daily decline in deaths from the virus, recording another 674 fatalities on Sunday.
A day earlier, Italy cheered after seeing its number of intensive care cases drop for the first time – from 4,068 on Friday to 3,994.
At the newborn nursery of the hospital in Samutprakarn province, central Thailand, babies are being provided with tiny face shields
New York state, epicentre of the US outbreak, reports 630 new deaths in one day, its largest 24-hour spike.
New York City mayor Bill de Blasio issues an emergency plea for volunteers, estimating the city will need 45,000 more medical personnel to fight the pandemic through April and May.
President Donald Trump warns Americans to brace for a ‘very horrendous’ number of coronavirus deaths in coming days.
The Central Bank of the United Arab Emirates says it has doubled to $70billion a stimulus package to support the Gulf state’s economy.
More than 300 Europeans on Saturday leave Bolivia for France on a charter flight.
Some 170 people, mostly French but including Swiss, Belgians, Germans and Britons, leave Moscow on Saturday on a repatriation flight organised by the French embassy.
Bolivia on Saturday repatriates 480 nationals who had been blocked at the Chilean border.
And 740 Algerians stuck in Turkey after their flights were cancelled are repatriated on Saturday.
Algeria has announced it will extend its night-time curfew – until now in place only in the capital and 13 of its 48 provinces – across the whole country.