MUMBAI, India (Reuters) – India, the country hardest hit in Asia by the coronavirus pandemic, reported on Friday a record increase in infections, raising the total number of cases to more than two million as the government struggled to involve the spread. fitness workers on strike.
More than 3.5 million fitness workers, who were the infantry soldiers in Covid-19’s detection efforts across India, conducted a two-day strike starting Friday to discharge higher wages and adequate protective equipment.
“So far, at least one hundred fitness staff members have died from Covid-19 in the country, but the government has not provided them with insurance,” said A. R, secretary of the Sindhu Trade Union Center, a key player in the ongoing strike.
Accredited social fitness activists or ASHA agents are government-recognized fitness personnel who are the first point of contact in economically disadvantaged sections, where direct access to fitness facilities is limited or non-existent.
They carried out door-to-door checks on patients with Covid-19.
A total of 10 trade unions representing painters, who also come with paramedics and chefs in network paint centres, joined the strike. Most paint on contracts with state governments for a monthly salary of about 3,000 Indian rupees ($40.02).
“In some places we have had difficulty calling families, especially in mountainous spaces. Array. The families were a long way off and we had to walk to where they were,” Nagalakshmi.D, a union leader of ASHA workers in the southern state of Karnataka, told Reuters.
“During the rains, we also had to cross rivers through boat and rope bridges,” he said.
As infections spread more in small towns and rural areas, experts estimate that the epidemic in India is likely to be months away from peaking, putting more pressure on an already overburdened fitness formula in a country of 1.3 billion people.
India is the third country to succeed on the unwanted threshold of two million Covid-19 instances, behind only the United States and Brazil.
India has recorded an average of around 50,000 new cases consistent with the day since mid-June, however, experts say its detection rate of 16,035 consistent with millions of inhabitants is too low.
“A country of India’s extension and diversity is experiencing epidemics at other stages,” said Rajib Dasgupta, director of the Center for Social Medicine and Community Health at Jawaharlal Nehru University in New Delhi.
However, the government has benefited from the relatively low mortality rate of around 2%, with 41,585 deaths so far, this figure is underestimated because only the deaths of other people who have been tested for the virus are counted.
($1 – 74,9600 Indian rupees)
Additional reports through Anuron Kumar Mitra and Derek Francis in Bengaluru, Jatindra Dash in Bhubaneswar, edited through Rupam Jain and Gareth Jones
All quotes were delayed for at least 15 minutes. See here for a complete list of transactions and delays.
© 2020 Reuters. All rights are reserved.