Floods ravage eastern India as infections near one million

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Jul 17, 2020 06:00 am

GUWAHATI, INDIA: Monsoon floods have swamped large parts of India's densely populated eastern states, forcing more than a million people into makeshift shelters despite the risk of coronavirus, senior officials said yesterday.

Torrential annual rains are crucial for agriculture in South Asia, but this year, India is grappling with the virus, which has infected 968,875 people and killed 24,915, health authorities say. The floods have killed at least 10 people and injured more than 70 in the states of Assam, Bihar and Jharkhand, where heavy rain has submerged thousands of villages as the authorities battle to ensure social distancing in relief camps.

"We have floods taking a deadly turn and simultaneously we are fighting the pandemic spreading its tentacles everywhere," Assam Health Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said.

When attention is focused on the crisis in the US and South America, a tragedy is swiftly unfolding in South Asia, said Mr John Fleming of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies.

"Covid-19 is spreading at an alarming rate in South Asia, home to a quarter of humanity," said the group's head of health in the Asia-Pacific region. "India alone is nearing one million infections in coming days."

Officials said swathes of Assam's Kaziranga National Park had been submerged with at least 50 wild animals dead, while some rhinos had strayed into villages, adding to the hazards rescue workers face. - REUTERS