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India’s deadly COVID surge follows crowded events

India’s devastating second wave was fuelled by a series of crowded events, including mass rallies addressed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Indian holy men, or Naga Sadhu, make their way to take a holy dip in the Ganges river during the Kumbh Mela at Haridwar, Uttarakhand, on April 14, 2021. [Idrees Mohammed/EPA]
Published On 29 Apr 2021

India has set another global record in new COVID-19 cases and deaths, with another 379,257 people infected and 3,645 deaths, as the country gears up to open its vaccination rollout to all adults on Saturday.

Experts believe both figures are an undercount, but it is unclear by how much.

India now has reported more than 18.3 million cases, behind only the US, with the surge rooted in so-called “super-spreader” events that were allowed to happen in the months after India thought it had the pandemic under control.

Fuelling the catastrophe was a series of crowded events, like mass rallies by politicians such as Prime Minister Narendra Modi, religious holidays and pilgrimages on the Ganges river.

As governing Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) ministers, including Modi, touted victory over the virus, people relaxed their vigilance and stopped wearing masks and maintaining social distancing.

Now India is enduring its darkest chapter yet, with mass funeral pyres, burials and a collapse of the healthcare system compounded by shortages of oxygen, ventilators and hospital beds.

Patients are suffocating, even dying, for lack of oxygen, with fires at overwhelmed crematoriums lighting up the night skies in several cities.

BJP supporters wear masks of Prime Minister Narendra Modi as they gather for a rally addressed by Modi ahead of West Bengal state elections in Kolkata on March 7, 2021. [Bikas Das/AP Photo]
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Supporters of the Trinamool Congress party attend a rally addressed by West Bengal's Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee during an election campaign at Bhabeshmore village, in Jalpaiguri district on the outskirts of Siliguri on April 14, 2021. [Diptendu Dutta/AFP]
Supporters of India's Congress party attend a rally by leader Rahul Gandhi during an election campaign at Shibmandir on the outskirts of Siliguri on April 14, 2021. [Diptendu Dutta/AFP]
Women carrying BJP party flags arrive for an election rally addressed by India's Home Minister Amit Shah, in Alappuzha, Kerala state, on April 3, 2021. [R S Iyer/AP Photo]
Supporters of Trinamool Congress chief and West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee attend an election campaign rally ahead of the fourth phase of the state election in Kolkata on April 7, 2021. [Rupak De Chowdhuri/Reuters]
Devotees take holy dips in the Ganges river during the Hindu festival of Kumbh Mela, or pitcher festival, in Haridwar, in the northern state of Uttarakhand on April 12, 2021. [/Karma Sonam/AP Photo]
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Hindu devotees crowd the banks of the Ganges as they perform rituals to mark the Chaiti Chhath Puja festival at sunset in Patna, Bihar state on April 18, 2021. [Sachin Kumar/AFP]
Laxmi Narayan Tripathi, chief of the Kinnar Akhara congregation for transgender people, arrives to take a dip in the Ganges river during the second Shahi Snan (grand bath) at Kumbh Mela, in Haridwar, on April 12, 2021. [Anushree Fadnavis/Reuters]
Female farmers shout slogans as they take part in a Maha Rally (mega rally), organised by a leading farmers' organisation, at the local grain market in Amritsar, Punjab on April 18, 2021. [Raminder Pal Singh/EPA]