Indian officials announce elections, ban rallies as new daily cases soar to 160,000

4 yıl önce

NEW DELHI — As daily covid-19 cases rise at an unprecedented pace, Indian officials announced they will proceed with holding elections in five states beginning on Feb. 10, but enforce a temporary ban on campaign rallies that health experts have warned could spread the coronavirus.

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For weeks, India has been grappling with sharply rising case numbers but also a national debate over whether to press forward with a high-stakes campaign season that will see more than 180 million voters come out and cast ballots in state races. Almost every political party involved in the upcoming polls — which carry significant repercussions for national politics — has been holding massive rallies, even as state and local officials introduced new social distancing restrictions and curfews to contain transmission.

Indian officials reported nearly 160,000 new cases on Sunday, with the two largest cities, Delhi and Mumbai, recording more than 20,000 new cases each. Schools, meanwhile, remain closed in several states. Health officials say cases are spreading faster than they have ever seen, although hospitalization rates and the number of deaths remain relatively low.

Some officials, including high court judges in the state of Uttar Pradesh, have urged election officials to delay voting and ban the rallies. They cited India’s experience in 2021, when thronging rallies were blamed for accelerating the spread of the pandemic during a wave that eventually overwhelmed the country’s health care system and killed at least 40,000 people, if not far more.

Sushil Chandra, the chief election commissioner, told reporters that the decision to proceed with the elections was “taken after much deliberation” with public health agencies. Timely elections were the “essence of democratic governance” and needed to proceed, he said.

The states of Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, Uttarakhand, Goa and Manipur will begin heading to the polls on Feb. 10, Chandra said, while adding that car processions and rallies must be suspended for at least a week, until Jan. 15, when the moratorium will be reevaluated. Chandra urged parties to instead hold virtual rallies on social media.

Election results are expected March 10.

Several jurisdictions continued to tighten restrictions over the weekend, with officials in Delhi and the states of Maharashtra and Karnataka — which include the megacities of Mumbai and Bangalore — shuttering nonessential businesses until Monday.

The Delhi chief minister, Arvind Kejriwal, said Sunday he hoped to prevent another full lockdown as he urged residents to mask up and not panic. The last time the Indian capital reported so many active cases — about 22,000 — was May 7, a day in the middle of the deadly second wave when 341 people died, he said at a media briefing. By comparison, there were seven deaths in Delhi on Saturday.

“I haven’t told you this so that you stop wearing masks and become irresponsible,” said Kejriwal, who had contracted covid earlier this week after attending a political rally and later recovered. “I am telling you this so that you don’t panic.”

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