One patient at a time today walked through the smoggy haze of New Delhi, India, to receive treatment at Breathe Better. The clinic’s respiratory physician, Dr. Kundra, said the recent deadly haze and the resurgence of the epidemic are “more than a blessing in disguise.
More and more physicians, like Davinder Kundra, are worried that the new wave of epidemics has already overwhelmed medical institutions and that New Delhi’s famously poor air is back at its pollution peak.
Every winter pollution season, New Delhi, the world’s most populous capital, sees a spike in demand for hospital beds as cases of lung diseases and chronic bronchitis rise.
Now, after a lull, coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is making a comeback, with a record 7,000 new cases diagnosed every day, and some officials predicting that it could soon cross 12,000 new cases in a single day.
India currently has the second highest number of confirmed cases in the world, with 8.5 million people infected, second only to the United States.
With studies strongly showing a link between air pollution and cases of death from the new coronavirus, New Delhi Mayor Arvind Kejriwal said the epidemic crisis is made worse each year by increased haze from farm fires, cars and industrial manufacturing.
As he looks at X-rays of lung patients, Kondra said his small clinic finds at least one suspected case of 2019 coronavirus disease every day, and asks them to undergo a collection test.
“Tiny contaminants act like carriers for the virus and can penetrate deeper into the lungs. Exposure to increased contamination is more likely to result in a more serious infection.”
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