The early belief that South Asia may escape the worst ravages of Covid-19 as inflicted on Europe and the US has long disappeared. In fact experts warn that South Asia, from Kabul to Dhaka, is turning into a hotspot for the virus with the congested conditions in which people live, the lack of healthcare facilities, high levels of illiteracy and confusion over whether official figures are accurate adding to the problem. Certainly, the predictions that the BCG injection almost all South Asians receive soon after birth or the anti-malarial drugs they swallow would save them along with the hot weather have proved completely inaccurate. As temperatures soar, so do the number of cases. Pakistan now has more than 190,000 cases and over 3500 deaths. In India, there have been over 14,000 deaths, while the number of cases continues to rise rapidly and in Dhaka, doctors complain of packed hospitals and graveyards which have no space to accommodate more bodies.
The WHO recommendation of a lockdown in Pakistan came earlier this month. Doctors suggest it should have been imposed earlier, and this may have saved us from the newest spike in cases, the deaths which come with it, the hoarding of medicines and overcrowded, overwhelmed hospitals. India had imposed one of the toughest lockdowns in the world, but was partly defeated in this effort to ensure social distancing by the millions of people left homeless and jobless with no choice but to try and walk back to their native villages, in some cases located hundreds of kilometres away. The movement of people seen in that country is estimated to have been the largest since Partition in 1947. Experts agree that in conditions such as those that prevail in South Asia, lockdowns are not easy to maintain for prolonged periods and exponential growths are equally difficult to deal with. Bangladesh did attempt a lockdown, beginning on March 26 and continuing through the end of May, and attempted to take other measures such by evacuating all its citizens from China and then reintegrating them after quarantine, but these steps were not entirely successful. Some reasons are the sheer poverty which forced people to leave their homes and the holding of Eid gatherings by some popular clerics which contributed to the spread of Covid-19. Global health experts also say the recovery rate in Bangladesh has been slow. The reasons would need further scientific study.
South Asia is now caught up in the midst of a crisis. It is a unique crisis and perhaps the worst the region has ever seen. There is no immediate solution. In some cases, the opportunities for containment have been lost, and now families must watch loved ones suffer and die as the pandemic continues to take its toll and cripple economies that already are at the brink of disaster, with more than 30 percent of people living below the poverty line.