COVID-19 Is Expanding in Three of the World’s Most Populous Countries

June 14, 2020 (EIRNS)—COVID-19 is spinning through three of the world’s most populous countries, India, Bangladesh and Egypt.

India: In response to an acute shortage of hospital beds in the National Capital Territory of Delhi, India’s federal government, headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, announced June 14 that it will provide Delhi’s authorities with 500 railway cars that will be equipped to care for coronavirus patients. The cars will increase Delhi’s capacity by 8,000 beds, Home Minister Amit Shah said on Twitter.

Delhi’s Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia warned that by current estimates, there would be more than half a million cases in the capital city alone by the end of July, requiring more than 80,000 hospital beds.

For India overall, in the past 19 days, COVID-19 infections have jumped from 144,950 to 320,000, with an increase of 11,929 new cases on June 14 alone. Altogether, as of June 14, WHO reports 9,195 Indians have died from COVID-19.

The crisis is made more acute by the fact that millions of migrant workers returning to their rural homes from big cities and industrial hubs bring the virus home with them. Dr. Naman Shah, an epidemiologist and physician advising a federal government coronavirus task force, speaking about the inadequate number of doctors and health facilities in rural areas, was quoted by the New York Times on June 4 as saying, “High levels of comorbidity, high levels of undernutrition and a weak health infrastructure, that’s just the recipe for high mortality.”

Bangladesh: Bangladesh announced 3,141 new cases and 32 more deaths from the coronavirus on June 14, raising its total caseload to 87,520, including 1,171 fatalities, according to Johns Hopkins University figures.

Nasima Sultana, a director general of the Health Directorate, reported that a junior minister from Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s cabinet, and also a former health minister and close aide to Hasina, have died of the virus on June 13 in Dhaka.

Reuters reports, “Bangladesh’s main state-run hospitals are overwhelmed, with many critical COVID-19 patients being deprived of intensive care beds and ventilators.”

Egypt: Egypt’s Health Ministry announced today that 62 more Egyptians died from the coronavirus, and there were 1,677 new confirmed cases—the highest infection total in any 24-hour period since the virus was first detected in the country in mid-February, bringing the total number of infections to 42,980, in Egypt, the Arab world’s most populous country.