India has surpassed 20 million cases of Covid 19 since the start of the pandemic. This is what emerges from the official data of the health authorities, which recorded another 357,229 counted in the last 24 hours, for a total of 20.3 million, while 3,449 deaths for a total of 222,408. Among the Indian cities most affected by the new wave of Coronavirus is Varanasi, sacred to Hindus, located in the constituency that elected Narendra Modi, the current prime minister. And in the city many feel abandoned, they wonder where their chosen one is in their time of need and in Varanasi there are no more hospital beds, there is no more oxygen, no ambulances, and undergo an anti-Coronavirus test can take a very long time. In the last ten days, most pharmacies have run out of stocks of basic medicines, vitamins, zinc, acetaminophen. “We are inundated with phone calls from people asking us to find them a bed or oxygen,” said a professional of the health system in the city, cited by the BBC. “With the basic drugs almost gone, people take the expired ones. They say they are a little less effective, but at least it is something.” Residents say the first problems arose in March, when cases increased exponentially in Delhi and Mumbai and local authorities began to impose restrictions. The migrant workers then returned home to Varanasi and the surrounding area, aboard overcrowded trains, buses, trucks. Many returned for the festival of colors or to vote in local elections on April 18, organized despite the fact that experts were of the opposite opinion. Seven hundred teachers who worked in the polling stations then died and the elections favored the spread of the virus. Alarmed by the situation, the Allahabad court ordered a one-week curfew on April 19 for Varanasi and 4 other cities. But the state authorities refused to put it into practice and turned to the Supreme Court to be right. In Varanasi there have so far been 70,612 cases of contagion and 690 deaths. 65% of the former have emerged from last April 1st to today.
