India and COVID-19 grim statistics

Background: India has recorded its deadliest day of the pandemic yet with 3,689 deaths reported in the last 24 hours, as the country’s caseload surged to 19.5 million with 392,488 fresh infections according to government data. This is the fourth straight day India has recorded over 3,000 deaths as the second wave of the pandemic carries on unabated and keeps setting grim new records, data showed on Sunday.

Altogether, 215,542 people have died from Covid-19. India became the first country to cross 400,000 daily cases on Saturday. It recorded 6.6 million infections and 45,000 deaths in April, compared to the little over 1.2 million cases and 5,417 deaths in March. Health care systems are overwhelmed, and a shortage of medical oxygen has emerged as the most serious challenge.

Arundhati Roy has called the situation 'a crime against humanity'. 

Thirty-four patients died for alleged want of oxygen in hospitals in the national capital, New Delhi, and the states of Andhra Pradesh and Haryana on Saturday, the Times of India reported. Thirty-one more with Covid-19-like symptoms and “breathing difficulties” died in a hospital in Uttar Pradesh state, the report cited authorities as saying. The Delhi High Court has warned that it will start punishing officials if life-saving supplies of oxygen and medical supplies don’t make it to hospitals.

Indian Railways has converted 4,000 railway carriages into “isolation coaches” with 64,000 beds. As many as 213 coaches had been handed to various states for Covid-19 care.

While the worst-affected cities and states like New Delhi and Mahrashtra are in prolonged lockdowns, states like Odisha and Haryana also announced new lockdowns to halt the spread of infections in rural areas.

India’s Covid-19 taskforce has pushed hard for a nationwide lockdown to help subdue the second wave, the Indian Express reported. Last month, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said all efforts should be made be avoid a lockdown.

The federal government fears another lockdown will have a devastating impact on the economy. The lockdown imposed last year after the first COVID-19 outbreak led to job losses as economic output fell a record 24% in April-June 2020 compared with the same period a year earlier.

Modi’s government has been criticised for letting millions of largely unmasked people attend religious festivals and crowded political rallies in five states through March and April. Daily cases in these states have spiked since then. (Source: Indaily, 3rd May 2021)

Modi's Covid-19 taskforce didn’t meet for months. The Minister for Health assured the public in March that India had reached the pandemic’s “endgame”. A few weeks before that, Modi had told global leaders that his nation had triumphed over coronavirus. India “saved humanity from a big disaster by containing corona effectively”, Modi told a virtual gathering at the World Economic Forum in late January. Now, a second wave has made India the worst-hit country in the world. Only 1.6% of its 1.3 billion population has been vaccinated. “Fake news" continues to discourage many from taking the proper precautions against the continuing spread of the virus. The decision to lower restrictions and allow large-scale political rallies and religious celebrations to continue has proved disastrous as an apparently new Covid-19 variant burned across the country.

New infections have reached about 400,000 a day. Actual cases are expected to be much higher than official figures report. Vaccines are running short. Hospitals are swamped. Lifesaving oxygen is running out. Each day, cremation grounds burn thousands of bodies, sending up never-ending plumes of ash that are turning the skies grey over some of India’s biggest cities.

The virus is cutting across all castes and income groups. No one feels safe from it, and many are falling for scam cures and preventatives being peddled to the unwary by the unscrupulous. 

The continued neglect of the healthcare system has led to its complete collapse under the crushing weight of the pandemic. Poor communities, once again, bear the brunt. Living in crammed areas without sanitation and using shared toilets and water points, they have no means to follow COVID-19 guidelines. In addition, migrant workers employed in the informal sector are once again facing uncertainties. Sporadic lockdowns and curfews have already triggered another exodus of migrant workers, putting them at the risk of not just contracting COVID-19 but also prolonged months without jobs or money.

Please pray

“If we only knew what happened when we pray, we would never cease to pray!” (Louie Giglio)

Sovereign God, your breath that we share, whether in India or the United States of America, unites us. The suffering inflicted on us by COVID-19 also brings us together. We pray for our siblings in India who are overcome by waves of grief, uncertainty and fear. We pray that they may again breathe in your life, peace and presence in this unnerving season.

Merciful God, we lament with your people in India left without time and space to bury their dead and grieve their losses. We join them in hope and confidence that they – in this, their valley of the shadow of death – will find your presence closer and clearer.

Divine Healer, heal our numbness and bring us together that we your people on different continents receive and mediate your grace through our words, deeds and largess.

Spirit of God, you join us in seasons of joy, dancing life and in the seasons of grief, challenging death. You join us in moments when our wounds, emotional and physical, are too deep for words, groaning with us. We join you and our siblings in India that we together with them recognize and proclaim the new life, abundance and peace you have willed for us all.  Amen.

(Source: James Taneti,  director of the Syngman Rhee Global Mission Center for Christian Education at Union Presbyterian Seminary in Richmond, Virginia)

God of redemption, for all who this day are walking in fear - bring your peace. For all who this day are facing an uncertain future - bring your hope. For all who this day are grieving losses and heartbreaks - bring your comfort. For all who this day are angry or hurt or broken or lost - bring your very presence to surround them and bear them up. 

(Source: Andrew Gunton, Moderator, Uniting Church in Australia, Queensland Synod)

Please uphold in prayer our DIAKONIA member associations in India:

* CSI Order of Women in the Church of South India, Women’s House (Karnataka)

                Sister Anna John, csiorderofsisters@gmail.com

*TELC Bethania Deaconess Home (Andhra Pradesh)

                Deaconess Mother Grace Padma, bethania_1234@yahoo.com

The Methodist Church in India, Deaconesses Order 

                We do not have a current contact for the Deaconess Order, 

                 but the Chairman/President is Bishop N L Karkare, bishopkarkare@gmail.com

You might make contact with words of encouragement, commitment to ongoing prayers for India etc. You might also use the DIAKONIA World Federation Facebook page to communicate. 

You might also explore practical ways to help including: 

Oxfam, Milaap, Hemkunt Foundation (specifically oxygen cylinders) etc, and also check out your denominational and ecumenical agencies, and NGO's, which might have options for much needed practical support. 

St. Kitts Epworth Maurice Hillier School Sick Bay Project

 

Operation of the Sick Bay 

‘SAFE SCHOOL, SAVE THE SICK’: DIAKAID –COVID-19 Project 

Report of the Wesley Diaconal Community (MCCA) Project Response to the Corona Virus Pandemic (COVID -19) 

 

Preamble: In order for schools to reopen in the Federation of St. Kitts and Nevis, COVID-19 protocols, stipulated by the Government, had to be met. 

Thankfully, Epworth Maurice Hillier Memorial Junior School met the requirements and was given approval to reopen. 

Action: School reopened on Monday, September 7, 2020 with Grades Kindergarten, 1 and 6 attending for the entire day, while Grades 2-5 were placed on a Shift System. 

The Reading Room was designated as the Sick Bay. An Assistant Teacher was assigned to work with the Deacon and Principal of the School in ensuring that the Sick Bay was kept in the best condition. Thanks to Ms. Kiemone Amory who maintained the room on a daily basis. 

While waiting for the funds from DIAKAID, the Sick Bay was basically stocked with hand soap, rubbing alcohol and towelets. Having received the funds, the remaining supplies have been purchased including bandages, hand sanitisers and bottles, antibiotics dressings, disposable gloves, disinfectant surface wipes, pillows, blankets, a storage case, a logbook, a bin and a couch. 

The maintenance of the Sickbay is ongoing. 

Operation for Term 1: In the past school term, September–December 2020, there were a few minor bruises which were treated by a First Aid Trained Teacher. It is the intent that training in First Aid will be pursued in the coming term for teachers. 

 

Now that most of the items are in place, the Bay will be in full operation next school term. 

 

Financials: The total amount of funds expended so far is USD 780.00. The remainder will be used to purchase additional supplies and possibly for the training of the Sick Bay Staff. 

 

The Board of Management expresses heartfelt gratitude to the Diakonia World Federation for the assistance in the establishment of th Epworth Maurice Hillier Memorial Junior School “Safe School, Save the Sick” project.  

 

Reported by Rev. Stacia Williams-Christmas December 23, 2020

International Nurses Day, May 12th

May 12 is recognised as International Nurses Day, the birth date of nursing pioneer Florence Nightingale. Between 31 July to 13 August 1850, Nightingale made her first visit to the Institute of Protestant Deaconesses in Kaiserswerth, a training school for women teachers and nurses. Her visit convinced Nightingale of the possibilities of making nursing a vocation for women.

In 1851 she spent four months at Kaiserswerth, training as a sick nurse, and passed her nursing exam. She became one of the most important pioneers in modern nursing. Today,  Kaiserswerth has the "Florence Nightingale" hospital, with two centres for the elderly, colleges for social and pedagogical education, schools of nursing and geriatric care; pedagogic facilities for children, teenagers and adults, an institute of continuing education, with more than 1400 people in many professions, including the deaconesses from the world's first "Mutterhaus" which was founded in 1836 in the centre ot Kaiserswerth.

This year is the bicentenary of Florence Nightingale's birth. She championed the need for good personal sanitation and hand hygiene. In 1854, she was asked to organize a corps of nurses to tend to the sick and fallen soldiers in the Crimea. More soldiers were dying from infectious diseases like typhoid and cholera than from injuries incurred in battle. She procured hundreds of scrub brushes and asked the least infirm patients to scrub the inside of the hospital from floor to ceiling to ensure more sanitary conditions in the hospital.

Nightingale herself fell ill from Crimean fever in 1855, and was dangerously ill for 12 days. Though she never fully recovered, she was able to continue her trailblazing work that greatly impacted 19th and 20th century policies around proper medical care.

The theme of International Nurses Day 2020 is 'nursing the world to health', with a focus on the 'true value of nurses to the people of the world', and especially in this time of the COVID-19 pandemic. 

Tragically, a number of nurses have lost their lives treating and caring for COVID-19 patients. In the UK alone, more than 100 NHS staff and health care workers have succumbed to the virus, with hundreds more health care workers dying worldwide. In the US, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention earlier this month said data suggests that healthcare workers account for about 11% of all COVID-19 infections. In Spain the figure was more than 13%. As of a week ago about 17,000 health care workers in Italy had been infected with the coronavirus, more than two-thirds of them women.

There are many of our diaconal community around the world who have trained as nurses, and we honour their work. Thank you.