India’s Covid-19 surge is taking its toll on mental health, even for those who don’t have the virus

A psychologist says many Indians are feeling fear, confusion, numbness, anxiety and helplessness as coronavirus cases and deaths surge around them

The trauma is amplified by the sounds of ambulance sirens, scenes of cremations taking place in car parks, and not being able to hold funeral rituals for the dead

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India’s second wave of Covid-19 infections is having a psychological impact on those who have not been infected, with many feeling overwhelmed and helpless at the situation. Photo: Reuters

Published: 12:30pm, 1 May 2021Updated: 1:09pm, 3 May 2021

Every phone call brings trepidation.

Because every call is, inevitably, about the coronavirus. Often, it is a call for help – someone needs a hospital bed, or the hospital has run out of oxygen or vital drugs. But increasingly, it is news about losing somebody you know.

India is in the midst of a terrifying new surge in Covid-19 cases, recording a third of all new global daily infections and over 2.5 million cases in the last seven days. India has recorded 3,500 Covid-19 deaths daily and a total death toll of more than 200,000. The number of daily new coronavirus cases on Saturday topped the 400,000 mark for the first time, pushing the total infections to more than 19 million.

The surge has brought a teetering health care system to a collapse – hospitals have run out of beds, oxygen supplies and drugs, and although international help is arriving, there are scenes of devastation in both urban and rural areas. Crematoriums are overflowing, forcing authorities to cremate bodies in parks, car parks and even pavements.

Patients are taking to social media, posting desperate pleas for everything from coronavirus tests to a spot at a cremation ground.

But the unabated rise in cases and deaths is not just a struggle for those infected with the virus. Even those who are physically healthy are now living in fear, anxiety and a sense of foreboding that Covid-19 will reach their doorstep or that of someone they know.