Kathmandu. Last May, a picture of corpses being cremated on Indian ports went viral. The picture clearly showed that Corona had taken a terrible shape in India. However, the situation experienced by India has shifted to Southeast Asia. In the last two weeks, the second wave of corona in India has been higher than the high point in Southeast Asia.
In Southeast Asia, the delta variant is causing a rapid spread of infection. The number of new infections in the area has reached an all-time high. Due to this, the health system of the countries of these regions has become unsustainable. Some countries in the region have not been able to comply with the standards set for corona control.
Indonesia, a country in Southeast Asia, has decided to consume the overall oxygen produced in the country for medical use as corona infections increase. As corona infections increase, so does the oxygen demand.
Similarly, the hospital in Malaysia has not been able to control the pressure of the patient, the patient has to be treated on the ground. Grave workers in Myanmar's largest city are now busy, and with the increasing pressure on graves, they have to dig graves day and night.
In India, the seven-day average, Corona's death rate peaked at 3.04 per 1 million in May. At present, this rate is continuously decreasing. However, in Indonesia, Myanmar, and Malaysia, the rate has been steadily rising.
On June 17, Eric Lam of Selangor, Malaysia, was infected with corona and was hospitalized. When he reached the government hospital, there were no empty beds in the ward. The hospital passage was full of patients. However, compared to other hospitals in Selangor, the condition of the hospital is good.
None of the hospitals in Malaysia's most prosperous and populous state had empty beds and many patients had to be treated on stretchers or on the floor. The government has built more wards for corona infections by adding more hospital beds as corona infections increase.
Lam, 38, spent three weeks in the hospital and saw patients die before his eyes.
Many factors have contributed to the recent rise in corona infections in Southeast Asia. According to Abhishek Rimal, the Red Cross Asia-Pacific Emergency Health Coordinator in Malaysia, there are factors such as people being upset with the measures taken to control the epidemic, not taking precautions, the vaccination campaign is running very slowly and the infection of Delta variant, which is considered very contagious.
"If we follow the basic standards set by the government, such as hand washing, wearing masks, maintaining physical distance, and getting vaccinated, we can see a significant reduction in corona infections in the next two weeks," he said.
Despite Malaysia's crackdown on corona control, there has been no reduction in infection. With a population of more than 32 million, more than 10,000 new cases were found on July 13 for the first time. Since then, the number of daily new infections has not dropped below that.
The number of people receiving the corona vaccine in Malaysia is also very low but this number continues to increase. About 15 percent of the population has been vaccinated with the full dose of the corona. The government aims to vaccinate most people against corona by the end of this year.
Doctors and nurses in Malaysian hospitals are working day and night as coronary infections are on the rise. They are trying to bring the situation under control. Lam is one of those who have returned from the brink of death because of that effort. As her condition worsened, she was treated with a ventilator and ICU, and her condition gradually improved. He was discharged from the hospital two years ago.
However, Lam lost her father and nephew due to the corona infection. One of his brothers is still in ICU and ventilator. ‘I feel like I’ve been born a second time and have a second chance to live,’ he said.
In India, which has a population of over 1.3 billion, the seven-day average corona death toll peaked at 3.04 per million when it reached its highest point in May. At present, this rate is continuously decreasing. However, in Indonesia, Myanmar, and Malaysia, the rate has been steadily rising. The death toll in the three countries was 4.37, 4.29, and 4.14 per 1 million, respectively, on Wednesday.
Cambodia and Thailand have also seen significant increases in the number of new coronaviruses and deaths. However, coronavirus deaths are lower in these two countries.
According to Rimal, most of the countries are trying to prevent the rapid spread of corona infection by slowing down the corona infection by learning from the spread of corona infection in India.
"People in the region are very conscious because four lakh new infections are found in India every day before their eyes and they don't really want that situation to happen again," Rimal said.
However, once public health standards are set, it takes some time to work. Countries in the region are currently struggling to control the infection.
In Indonesia, the world's fourth most populous country, 1,449 people died of corona on Thursday. The death toll from the Corona epidemic has risen sharply in Indonesia since the outbreak.
The number of newly infected people, which was around 8,000 in mid-June, was more than 50,000 last year. Experts say the actual number of infected people could be high due to the limited testing rate in Indonesia.
As corona infections have increased, the government has sent most of the oxygen produced in the country for medical use. Before the crisis, 400 tons of oxygen was needed daily for medical use, but as the number of coronary infections increased significantly, the oxygen required for medical use increased fivefold to 2,000 tons.
Although there is no problem with oxygen production in Indonesia, there is still a shortage of oxygen in some hospitals due to supply problems. About 14 people in Indonesia have so far received at least one dose of the corona vaccine.
Demonstrations in Myanmar against the military's takeover of power last February destroyed the country's health system. In the last few weeks alone, corona testing and calculations have begun to pick up speed again. A new wave of the corona has been seen in Myanmar since mid-May. Also, the number of deaths from the corona is increasing significantly.
Mortality has risen sharply since early July. Myanmar's military is also believed to be seriously hiding the number of infected and dead people in Corona. A regional human rights group has warned that the situation in Myanmar could worsen in the coming weeks due to the already fragile health system, too few tests, lack of oxygen, and other medical supplies.
The problem is exacerbated by the fact that most people have little faith in the military government. The Myanmar government said on Thursday that 6,700 new cases had been reported and that 319 people had died. There are no reliable statistics on the number of people who have been vaccinated. Based on the available vaccines, it is estimated that about 3 percent of people have received the full dose of the corona.
People have been posting on social media saying that the graves in Yangon, the country's largest city, could not support the bodies. Officials have denied the allegations on social media. However, he acknowledged that many deaths occurred at home.
Speaking on military television, Cho Tung Aung, head of Myanmar's Department of Grave Management, said on Monday that 350 workers had been working three shifts since July 8 at Yangon's seven major graves.
