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Saturday, May 30, 2020
India victims of 1984 Bhopal gas tragedy dying of coronavirus
Indian families that suffered from the deadly industrial disaster in 1984 accuse the government of abandoning them.
Women maintain a safe physical distance outside a bank as they wait to collect their pensions during a government-imposed nationwide lockdown in Bhopal [File: Gagan Nayar/AFP]
29 May 2020Victims of a horrifying 1984 gas leak in the Indian city of Bhopal, who have long suffered the debilitating fallout of the world's worst industrial disaster, are now dying from the novel coronavirus, with relatives and activists accusing the government of abandoning them and withholding treatment.
Toxic methyl isocyanate released from the Union Carbide pesticide factory killed 3,500 people in the central Indian city instantly and 25,000 others in the years that followed.
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Now its victims make up a significant proportion of coronavirus deaths in Bhopal - at least 20 out of 45, according to government data, while activists say 37 of the dead suffered illnesses related to the leak.Gaurav Khatik's 52-year-old father Naresh was one of them. Khatik said his father, who suffered lung damage in the disaster, was denied treatment at a hospital built for gas-afflicted patients.
The state-of-the-art Bhopal Memorial Hospital and Research Centre (BMHRC) - a busy four-storey 350-bed facility on a sprawling compound on the city's outskirts - was requisitioned by the Madhya Pradesh state government in March for COVID-19 patients.
But the move created "a lot of confusion" and contributed to deadly treatment delays, Khatik told the AFP news agency.
A lack of transport due to the lockdown also meant that an average 40-minute journey from the city centre to the hospital became an long and arduous trip under sweltering conditions.
"People wasted a lot of time going from one hospital to another to seek treatment, which claimed many lives," the 20-year-old said.
They were then denied treatment at other hospitals, with staff saying they did not have the specialised equipment to treat gas-related ailments. They were presumed not to have the virus and no tests were carried out.
"If there was no confusion over the status of Bhopal Memorial Hospital, my father would probably be alive," Khatik said.
Naresh was eventually admitted to a private hospital, where he was finally tested for the virus as his condition deteriorated.
He died within hours of testing positive, leaving his shell-shocked family without a breadwinner and almost $1,180 in medical debt.
"He was our lifeline," Khatik said, fighting to hold back tears.
'Nightmare'
Activists accuse the government of abandoning the community, whose health conditions make them vulnerable to new coronavirus."We had alerted the government that if they didn't take proactive action, many gas victims would die from COVID-19 ... but they paid no heed," Rachna Dhingra of the Bhopal Group for Information and Action told AFP.
"They should have reached out to all gas victims suffering from diabetes or hypertension and tested them."
Like Khatik, housewife Gulnaz faced a "nightmare" when her father-in-law Riyazuddin - who suffered respiratory ailments after the gas disaster - complained of breathing difficulties.
"We had to struggle a lot ... to get help," the 35-year-old told AFP, adding that four hospitals, including BMHRC, refused to take the 65-year-old.
He was finally admitted to the state-run Hamidia Hospital, where he tested positive for the novel coronavirus.
"He was in the hospital only for a day and passed away by evening," Gulnaz, who only gave her first name, said.
Authorities eventually reversed their decision to requisition BMHRC. But the move came too late for many patients, Dhingra said.
The activist said at least five gas victims died from COVID-19, the disease caused by the novel coronavirus, because the hospital rejected them.
Bhopal's health commissioner Faiz Ahmed Kidwai told AFP "only one case of a patient turned away is accurate".
"All those who died did not die because BMHRC refused admission," he said.
'Collapsed system'
The 1984 disaster left deep scars across the city of 1.8 million.Government statistics compiled after 1994 say at least 100,000 people living near the plant suffered ailments including respiratory and kidney problems, and cancer.
Gas-affected mothers gave birth to infants with congenital disorders. Children fell ill from polluted groundwater.
A $470m settlement inked in 1989 only provided compensation to some 5,000 people, campaigners say.
The government in 2012 filed a legal petition seeking further damages from US chemical giant Dow Chemicals, which now owns Union Carbide.
The state's Bhopal Gas Tragedy Relief and Rehabilitation department director Ved Prakash told AFP that thermal screening was now being carried out on gas victims who have COVID-19 symptoms or are vulnerable, "so that they can be isolated and quarantined".
But Dhingra said the move - which reflects India's push to largely limit testing to people with acute respiratory infections, cough and fever - would sound a death knell for gas victims.
"They have to test ... instead of just screening patients who are high-risk. By the time they turn symptomatic, it will be too late.
"The entire system has collapsed and the most vulnerable are paying with their lives."
A rickshaw driver wears a makeshift protective Covid-19 suit and mask as he waits for passengers in Manila, Philippines. Photograph: Eloisa Lopez/Reuters
Luke Harding and agencies-
South Korea has postponed the planned reopening of more than 800 schools as it battles a renewed outbreak of the coronavirus, with cases now at their highest level for almost two months.
The country’s easing of lockdown measures has gone into reverse, with museums, parks and art galleries closed again on Friday for two weeks. Kindergarten pupils, and some primary and secondary school students were due back from Wednesday, in the last phase of school reopenings.
According to the education ministry, however, 838 schools out of 20,902 nationwide remain shut. They are located in areas hard hit by the latest wave of infections, including the capital, Seoul, and the cities of Bucheon and Gumi.
South Korea has been praised for its deft handling of the Covid crisis. It seemed to have brought the virus under control only to record 79 new cases this week, the highest daily figure for two months. The government has responded by bringing back lockdown measures in the Seoul metropolitan area, home to half of the country’s 51 million population.
Most of these cases have been linked to a distribution centre in Bucheon. The warehouse is run by the country’s biggest e-commerce firm Coupang. Health officials traced at least 82 infections to the facility, with the virus found on workers’ shoes and clothes. They are now testing all employees and visitors.
In the Philippines, meanwhile, plans were unveiled on Friday to ease strict lockdown measures despite a record spike in new cases. The country reported 539 infections on Thursday, bringing its total to 15,588, with 921 deaths.
From Monday the capital, Manila, will allow gatherings of up to 10 people and free movement in and out of the city as long as travellers wear masks and keep their distance. Workplaces, shops and some public transport will reopen. Manila is home to 12 million people and is the centre of the nation’s outbreak and efforts to battle the contagion.
“For me, this does not look bad,” President Rodrigo Duterte said in a televised address. He described the country’s mortality rate as low and called for a move to the “new normal”. Health minister, Francisco Duque, said 90% of the country’s Covid-19 cases were “mild”.
Manila’s lockdown will this weekend surpass the 76-day quarantine of Wuhan, the city in China where the first outbreak of the coronavirus was detected. Manila’s restrictions have hit the livelihoods of millions of workers and there is pressure to ease damage to an economy that is facing its deepest contraction in 34 years.
Manila police trainees maintain social distancing on a train during an exercise in preparation for the resumption of public transport Photograph: Eloisa Lopez/Reuters
Globally, deaths stand at nearly 360,000, with 5.8 million cases. Asia is struggling to cement early success in controlling outbreaks of coronavirus.
In India, Mumbai’s hospitals are on the verge of collapse, with footage emerging of patients sharing beds and oxygen tanks. “The volume and density of our population in Mumbai makes it very difficult to see how we will get out of the other side of this peak,” said Manish Shetty, a doctor on the Covid-19 ward in Guru Nanak hospital in Mumbai. “The magnitude of the cases is overwhelming us all.”
Weeks earlier, footage emerged of patients being treated next to dead bodies, lying unclaimed by families fearful of infection.
Meanwhile in Sri Lanka, some lockdown rules will be rolled out again from Sunday after more than 250 returnees from Kuwait were found to be infected with coronavirus.
In Japan, a cluster response team has been sent to the south-western city of Kitakyushu, which has seen a sudden rise in cases after three weeks with no new infections. The city has clocked up 43 cases this week, bringing its total to 119. How more than a dozen of the latest infections came about remains unclear.
The mayor, Kenji Kitahashi, warned of a second virus wave and asked residents to refrain from non-essential outings. “If we leave this as it is, we will definitely be hit by a large second wave,” he said.
Several Middle Eastern countries eased restrictions on Friday. In Saudi Arabia a three-day transition to relative normality got under way, with malls and waterfronts open and the Kingdom readying to allow up to 90,000 mosques to receive worshippers on Sunday for the first time in nearly two months.
In the United Arab Emirates, Dubai’s beaches and parks reopened. The city’s museums are expected to reopen their doors on Monday, as officials try to position the country as ‘open for business’ after the most crippling economic slowdown in the country’s history.
Both the Emirates and Saudi Arabia have been among the regional states most affected by Covid-19, with the virus taking an unprecedented toll on state revenues and forcing seismic shake-ups in labour markets and other key sectors.
Balancing dwindling revenues and consumer confidence against a public health emergency has been particularly challenging for the UAE, one of the globe’s main aviation hubs and an emerging tourist destination, the viability of which depends heavily on a pre-Covid interconnected world resuming on a similar scale.
Both countries have enforced social distancing and have imposed curfews throughout the crisis.
Numbers have increased steadily throughout the pandemic, with more than 32,500 cases registered in the UAE and more than 80,000 in Saudi Arabia. Migrant workforces account for large numbers of cases in each state. The ratio of deaths to contractions in each state is lower than the global average, at less than one per cent.
In other global developments:
The country’s easing of lockdown measures has gone into reverse, with museums, parks and art galleries closed again on Friday for two weeks. Kindergarten pupils, and some primary and secondary school students were due back from Wednesday, in the last phase of school reopenings.
According to the education ministry, however, 838 schools out of 20,902 nationwide remain shut. They are located in areas hard hit by the latest wave of infections, including the capital, Seoul, and the cities of Bucheon and Gumi.
South Korea has been praised for its deft handling of the Covid crisis. It seemed to have brought the virus under control only to record 79 new cases this week, the highest daily figure for two months. The government has responded by bringing back lockdown measures in the Seoul metropolitan area, home to half of the country’s 51 million population.
Most of these cases have been linked to a distribution centre in Bucheon. The warehouse is run by the country’s biggest e-commerce firm Coupang. Health officials traced at least 82 infections to the facility, with the virus found on workers’ shoes and clothes. They are now testing all employees and visitors.
In the Philippines, meanwhile, plans were unveiled on Friday to ease strict lockdown measures despite a record spike in new cases. The country reported 539 infections on Thursday, bringing its total to 15,588, with 921 deaths.
From Monday the capital, Manila, will allow gatherings of up to 10 people and free movement in and out of the city as long as travellers wear masks and keep their distance. Workplaces, shops and some public transport will reopen. Manila is home to 12 million people and is the centre of the nation’s outbreak and efforts to battle the contagion.
“For me, this does not look bad,” President Rodrigo Duterte said in a televised address. He described the country’s mortality rate as low and called for a move to the “new normal”. Health minister, Francisco Duque, said 90% of the country’s Covid-19 cases were “mild”.
Manila’s lockdown will this weekend surpass the 76-day quarantine of Wuhan, the city in China where the first outbreak of the coronavirus was detected. Manila’s restrictions have hit the livelihoods of millions of workers and there is pressure to ease damage to an economy that is facing its deepest contraction in 34 years.
Manila police trainees maintain social distancing on a train during an exercise in preparation for the resumption of public transport Photograph: Eloisa Lopez/Reuters
Globally, deaths stand at nearly 360,000, with 5.8 million cases. Asia is struggling to cement early success in controlling outbreaks of coronavirus.
In India, Mumbai’s hospitals are on the verge of collapse, with footage emerging of patients sharing beds and oxygen tanks. “The volume and density of our population in Mumbai makes it very difficult to see how we will get out of the other side of this peak,” said Manish Shetty, a doctor on the Covid-19 ward in Guru Nanak hospital in Mumbai. “The magnitude of the cases is overwhelming us all.”
Weeks earlier, footage emerged of patients being treated next to dead bodies, lying unclaimed by families fearful of infection.
Meanwhile in Sri Lanka, some lockdown rules will be rolled out again from Sunday after more than 250 returnees from Kuwait were found to be infected with coronavirus.
In Japan, a cluster response team has been sent to the south-western city of Kitakyushu, which has seen a sudden rise in cases after three weeks with no new infections. The city has clocked up 43 cases this week, bringing its total to 119. How more than a dozen of the latest infections came about remains unclear.
The mayor, Kenji Kitahashi, warned of a second virus wave and asked residents to refrain from non-essential outings. “If we leave this as it is, we will definitely be hit by a large second wave,” he said.
Several Middle Eastern countries eased restrictions on Friday. In Saudi Arabia a three-day transition to relative normality got under way, with malls and waterfronts open and the Kingdom readying to allow up to 90,000 mosques to receive worshippers on Sunday for the first time in nearly two months.
In the United Arab Emirates, Dubai’s beaches and parks reopened. The city’s museums are expected to reopen their doors on Monday, as officials try to position the country as ‘open for business’ after the most crippling economic slowdown in the country’s history.
Both the Emirates and Saudi Arabia have been among the regional states most affected by Covid-19, with the virus taking an unprecedented toll on state revenues and forcing seismic shake-ups in labour markets and other key sectors.
Balancing dwindling revenues and consumer confidence against a public health emergency has been particularly challenging for the UAE, one of the globe’s main aviation hubs and an emerging tourist destination, the viability of which depends heavily on a pre-Covid interconnected world resuming on a similar scale.
Both countries have enforced social distancing and have imposed curfews throughout the crisis.
Numbers have increased steadily throughout the pandemic, with more than 32,500 cases registered in the UAE and more than 80,000 in Saudi Arabia. Migrant workforces account for large numbers of cases in each state. The ratio of deaths to contractions in each state is lower than the global average, at less than one per cent.
In other global developments:
- Health officials in Moscow updated their figures on coronavirus deaths. On top of 636 deaths in April reported earlier, the health department added the deaths of 756 people who tested positive for the virus but died of other causes.
- In France, the prime minister said a ban on journeys of more than 100km (62 miles) would end on Tuesday, adding that cafes, bars and restaurants in so-called green areas – where the virus is not circulating widely – would be able to reopen on the same date. In orange areas, such as Paris, establishments would be able to reopen only their outside terraces.
- Spain approved a minimum basic income scheme to help those on low incomes. The €3bn scheme will provide monthly payments of between €462 and €1,015 to around 850,000 households, It will begin on 15 June.
- Health authorities in South Africa say the country has a backlog of nearly 100,000 unprocessed coronavirus tests, because of a difficulty in obtaining essential supplies.“This challenge is caused by the limited availability of test kits globally,” the health ministry said.
- The president of Namibia, Hage Geingob, and several top officials have been fined after breaching regulations last month by hosting a celebration to mark his party’s 60th anniversary. The South West Africa People’s Organisation (Swapo) birthday party took place in parliament on 19 April, when Namibia was under lockdown and group gatherings banned. All were fined N$2,000 (£92.34).
