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Gallery|Coronavirus pandemic

Death in the Himalayas: Poverty, fear propel India’s COVID crisis

Many in India’s remote villages shun tests for fear of testing positive and being forced to go to hospital far from home.

A healthcare worker wearing personal protective equipment (PPE) collects a swab sample from a woman to test her for COVID-19 at Pitha village in the northern state of Uttarakhand, India. [Danish Siddiqui/Reuters]
Published On 27 May 202127 May 2021
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Pramila Devi’s shrouded body lay on a bier, resting on a rock on the banks of a muddy Ganges.

The 36-year-old mother of three children died the previous night in a village in the mountainous northern state of Uttarakhand, a day after testing positive for COVID-19.

Devi’s death on Sunday is a sign of how poverty, fear and a lack of facilities are adding to COVID-19 fatalities in remote villages, where many shun tests for fear of testing positive and being forced to go to a hospital far from home.

India’s COVID-19 caseload stands at 27.37 million, with 315,235 deaths, Thursday’s federal government data show. But some experts estimate numbers are far higher, due in part to low testing rates in India’s hinterlands where COVID-19 cases are spreading rapidly.

Devi’s eldest daughter got married and moved away in late April after the family hosted a ceremony attended by over two dozen people, her husband Suresh Kumar, 43, told Reuters news agency.

Two weeks after that, Devi suffered a bout of diarrhoea. But it was not until 10 days later that Kumar, who has no income and depends on handouts, took her to a nearby dispensary that has been turned into a small COVID-19 facility with four beds.

The dispensary is equipped with one oxygen cylinder and one concentrator, said Aishwary Anand, the only doctor there.

Devi tested positive for COVID-19 with very low blood oxygen levels. Anand advised Kumar to take her to a bigger hospital, but costs were a deterrent.

The couple returned home, where their two other children – a 16-year-old boy and a 10-year-old girl – were waiting.

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The next day Devi’s nephew carried her to a creaky taxi which returned her to the dispensary. Another patient was using the oxygen cylinder and the oxygen concentrator did not work due to a power outage.

“We need power,” Anand pleaded with an electricity department employee over the phone, as he paced the dispensary wearing white protection gear.

Eventually, power was restored, Devi had access to the concentrator and felt well enough to return home. But when she felt sick again, the family called an ambulance to take her back to the clinic, where she was pronounced dead on arrival.

“I am yet to inform my eldest daughter of her mother’s death,” a distraught Kumar said as he crouched on the banks of the Ganges.

The state of Uttarakhand, which shares its border with China and Nepal, reported nearly 46,000 COVID-19 cases and more than 6,000 fatalities.

But locals and doctors say many in the state suffering COVID-like symptoms refuse to get tested or test too late.

Suresh Kumar, 43, ties up the hair of his wife Pramila Devi, 36, who is suffering from coronavirus disease, before taking her to a local government dispensary, at their home in Kaljikhal in Uttarakhand. [Danish Siddiqui/Reuters]
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Devi's eldest daughter got married and moved away in late April after the family hosted a ceremony attended by over two dozen people, her husband Suresh Kumar, 43, said. [Danish Siddiqui/Reuters]
Uttarakhand hosted the weeks-long Kumbh Mela or pitcher festival, a Hindu pilgrimage that saw hundreds of thousands of ash-smeared ascetics and devout Hindus jostling to take a dip in the Ganges, which is considered a holy river. [Danish Siddiqui/Reuters]
A healthcare worker wearing personal protective equipment (PPE) arrives to collect swabs from villagers to test them for COVID-19 at Pitha village. [Danish Siddiqui/Reuters]
Pramila Devi, 36, who is suffering from COVID-19, is treated by Dr Aishwary Anand at a government dispensary in Kaljikhal. [Danish Siddiqui/Reuters]
Relatives of Pramila Devi, 36, who died from complications related to the coronavirus disease, take down her body from a jeep before her cremation, on the banks of the river Ganges in Pauri Garhwal, in Uttarakhand. [Danish Siddiqui/Reuters]
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Some experts fear the Kumbh Mela event led to a surge in COVID-19 infections both in the crammed city and other parts of India as devotees returned home. [Danish Siddiqui/Reuters]
Suresh Kumar, husband of Pramila Devi, and Devi's son Suraj Kumar, 16, watch her cremation on the banks of the river Ganges in Pauri Garhwal. [Danish Siddiqui/Reuters]
The burning pyre of Pramila Devi, 36, who died from complications related to the coronavirus disease, is seen during her cremation on the banks of the river Ganges in Pauri Garhwal. [Danish Siddiqui/Reuters]


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