As well as unequal access to healthcare, for those who live shoulder to shoulder in overcrowded urban slums -- about 74 million people -- social distancing is impossible. There is little running water or sanitation, putting them at greater risk of contacting the virus.Mina Ramesh Jakhawadiya, center, tells her son Ritik Ramesh, left, not to go out and play because of the coronavirus and be in the house in Mumbai, India, March 30, 2020.
About 60 per cent of India's 1.3 billion people are considered poor, with about 21 per cent surviving on about $2 a day. They often work as unskilled or daily-wage laborers in various industries such as farming or construction. In major cities, they make up a workforce of rickshaw pullers, street and drain cleaners, vegetable sellers, delivery boys, and domestic workers.
Commuters with face masks to prevent coronavirus stand closely without maintaining social distancing as they wait for bus in Kolkata, India, Friday, July 17, 2020. On Friday, more than 400 million people in Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, and Karantaka's capital city Bengaluru re-entered lockdown conditions after a rise in COVID-19 cases.
Archan Ghose, a graphic designer in New Delhi, said that some daily workers felt they couldn't isolate and continued to work, as they "need the salaries that they get from two or three households to run their own homes and look after their family."However, not every employer has been so empathetic. A health worker takes a nasal swab sample of a woman at an urban health centre in Ahmedabad, India, July 16, 2020. India's virus cases surged another 32,695 as of Thursday, taking the nation closer to 1 million and forcing a new lockdown in the popular western beach state of Goa two weeks after it was reopened to tourists.
Decisions that have to be made include: should I use the finite water supply to clean the dishes instead of regularly washing my hands and increasing the risk of infection? Should I spend money on a COVID-19 test for a sick relative and deplete my savings, leaving my children at risk of going hungry?
"People didn't realize that," said Ms Agarwal. "A lot reached out and said, This is such an eye opener." A health worker takes a swab test of a women at a temple in Mumbai, India, Saturday, July 18, 2020. India crossed 1 million coronavirus cases on Friday, third only to the United States and Brazil, prompting concerns about its readiness to confront an inevitable surge that could overwhelm hospitals and test the country's feeble health care system.
That’s nothing considering the amount of people they have
China had 21 million DEATHS.. no one will beat that...
After the PM and Trump had a “productive” phone call, I have a very bad feeling since then. Who betrayed aussies?