India is now the 12th most-impacted nation by the COVID-19 pandemic, as the number of cases has crossed the 70,000-mark. According to the Indian Health Ministry – the number of COVID-19 infected cases stand at 74,281 in the country with 2,415 fatalities.
With the latest data, India has traversed Canada’s tally, which has 69,156 cases of COVID-19 according to World Health Organisation (WHO) list. India is just below China (around 82,000 cases) where the disease originated in December last year.
Meanwhile, an expeditious rollout of mass testing for the COVID-19 seems to be a critical yardstick in defining the human and economic damage caused on various Asian nations by the pandemic.
Vietnam, which reacted quickly, has reported just 288 cases so far, with no deaths. However, deaths have cross 2400 in India and 1,000 in Indonesia, where testing rates are painfully slow.
The availability of testing kits also determines when these nations can open their markets and economies, say experts talking to the EurAsian Times.
Vietnam is among the most competitive nations in Asia for testing for COVID-19, performing approximately 2,681 per million people, according to the latest data. Indonesia, on the contrary, has tested a mere 415 people per million. Singapore meanwhile has a testing rate of a whopping 21,114 people per million.
Vietnam acted quickly to the infection, battling it with aggressive testing and meticulous quarantine arrangements. The country also closed schools and limited entry of foreign travellers in February itself.
Vietnam even bypassed the WHO’s standards, organising a system for tracking not only individuals diagnosed with COVID-19 but also people who were in close contact with coronavirus affected person — and even those people who were in their proximity.
India’s coronavirus infected toll is closing-in on China. The Modi-government has increased daily testing capacity to 55,000 at the end of April, but only a little over 2,000 tests are being conducted per day in Delhi.
According to experts, India’s testing facilities unfortunately still ignores asymptomatic transmitters who carry on with their daily lives, unrestricted. Immediately you may not see a drastic impact, however, the Modi government might find it impossible to control the virus as the asymptomatic people would have transmitted the virus to innumerable people.
