Coronavirus: India becomes third country to pass two million cases

Aug 7 2020

BBC NEWS

More than two million Indians have now tested positive for Covid-19, according to official figures.

The country confirmed the last million cases in just 20 days, faster than the US or Brazil which have higher numbers.

Testing has been expanded considerably in India in recent weeks but the situation varies across states.

Spurred by a low death rate, the nation continues to reopen even as new hotspots drive the surge in cases. But some states have imposed restrictions.

Spur：這個(gè)單詞我們應(yīng)該見面三次了，有鞭策，刺激，激勵(lì)的意思

The recent measures include local,?intermittent lockdowns, sometimes limiting activity in specific cities or districts.

intermittent adj. /??nt??m?t?nt/ ?stopping and starting often over a period of time, but not regularly 斷斷續(xù)續(xù)的；間歇的·intermittent lockdowns?間歇性封城

India is now the third country to cross the two million mark. It reported 62,170 cases in the past 24 hours, taking its total tally up to 2,025,409.

The country has reported around 40,700 deaths so far. While that is the world's fifth-biggest total, experts say it is not very high given the country's population of 1.3 billion.

The government, however, has been accused of undercounting?Covid-19 deaths due to a variety of reasons - from lags in reporting to rules on how India determines if a death was caused by the virus.

Undercount：少計(jì)（尤其是人口統(tǒng)計(jì)數(shù)）

Meanwhile, India has been steadily "unlocking" its economy since early June after a gruelling lockdown that lasted nearly two months. Gyms and fitness centres are the latest to reopen.

gruelling adj. /?ɡru??l??/ ?very difficult and tiring, needing great effort for a long time 使人筋疲力盡的；折磨人的?? a gruelling journey/schedule 使人筋疲力盡的旅程；累人的日程安排

Testing has also gone up but it remains patchy as some states are doing as many as 40,000 test per million, and others as few as 6,000.

patchy adj. /?p?t?i/ ?

1.existing or happening in some places and not others 零散的；散落的；分布不勻的??patchy fog 團(tuán)團(tuán)的霧??The grass was dry and patchy. 草都干了，東一片西一片的。

2.( NAmE also also spotty ) not complete; good in some parts, but not in others 不完整的；參差不齊的??a patchy knowledge of Spanish 對(duì)西班牙語一知半解

Case numbers are rising rapidly, for instance, in the southern state of Andhra Pradesh. It shot up the list this past month, and now accounts for India's third-highest caseload.

Andhra Pradesh：安得拉邦（印度瀕孟加拉灣的邦）

shoot up ：?If something shoots up, it grows or increases very quickly. 快速成長(zhǎng); 激增??? Sales shot up by 9% last month. 上個(gè)月的銷售猛增了9%。

Caseload：積累案牘之?dāng)?shù)量，待處理案件數(shù)量，工作量? 這個(gè)單詞也遇到很多次

A 'patchwork?pandemic'

By Soutik Biswas, BBC News, Delhi

patchwork n. /?p?t?w??k/ ?

1.（不同圖案雜色布?jí)K的）拼縫物；拼布工藝??a patchwork quilt 拼布絎縫蓋被

2.[ sing. ] a thing that is made up of many different pieces or parts 拼湊之物

India, as one expert told me, was a "slow burning coil" for a long time when it came to the spread of the coronavirus. In that sense, it was different from the US and Brazil, the two other big countries badly hit by the pandemic.

coil /k??l/ ?1.~ (sth) round, around, etc. sth~ (sth) up to wind into a series of circles; to make sth do this （使）纏繞，盤繞??Mist coiled around the tops of the hills. 薄霧盤繞著山巔。 ?to coil a rope into a loop 把繩索盤繞成。2. 線圈；一圈（繩索）；卷

Now it has taken 20 days for the country to progress from a million to two million cases. That is faster than the time the US (43 days) and Brazil (27 days) took to double from a million cases. However, India has recorded fewer fatalities than both these countries.

India is also generating the highest number of daily new cases in the world. What is making it difficult to contain the infection is the country's size, population and heterogeneity. In what has become a "patchwork pandemic", infections are waxing and waning in different states at different points.

heterogeneity?/?het?r?d???ni??ti/. [生物] 異質(zhì)性；[化學(xué)] 不均勻性；[化學(xué)] 多相性

wax /w?ks/?上蠟；唱片；蠟?zāi)ば纬?/span>

wane /we?n/v. （月亮）虧缺；（尤指狀況、感覺）衰落，減少n. 減弱；月虧

infections are waxing and waning in different states at different points：這句話聯(lián)系上下文，個(gè)人認(rèn)為指疫情在印度各邦表現(xiàn)不一樣，有嚴(yán)重有減弱。

The success in containing the infection in the Dharavi slum in Mumbai and the capital, Delhi, show that India is not defenceless against the virus. But India needs to realise that it needs a more?robust federal strategy?to contain a virus that is going to stay with us for a long time, experts say.

Dharavi slum：達(dá)拉維貧民窟????Mumbai：孟買

robust adj. ?/r???b?st/ ?

1.strong and healthy 強(qiáng)健的；強(qiáng)壯的??She was almost 90, but still very robust. 她將近90歲了，但身體仍然十分強(qiáng)健。

2.strong; able to survive being used a lot and not likely to break 結(jié)實(shí)的；耐用的；堅(jiān)固的??a robust piece of equipment 經(jīng)久耐用的設(shè)備

3.( of a system or an organization 體制或機(jī)構(gòu) ) strong and not likely to fail or become weak 強(qiáng)勁的；富有活力的?robust economic growth 強(qiáng)勁的經(jīng)濟(jì)增長(zhǎng)

4.strong and full of determination; showing that you are sure about what you are doing or saying 堅(jiān)定的；信心十足的

robust federal strategy：穩(wěn)健的聯(lián)邦政策策略

有一個(gè)魯棒效應(yīng)或者叫做魯棒性（robustness）的管理科學(xué)詞匯，就是強(qiáng)調(diào)系統(tǒng)的穩(wěn)健性，在異常和危險(xiǎn)情況下系統(tǒng)生存的關(guān)鍵。

The country needs to bring together "public health, health care, social support and financial sectors together" with strong political leadership at every level to forge a national containment strategy, says epidemiologist Bhramar Mukherjee

Also, the strategies need to be different for different parts of India. The country simply cannot afford another?grinding?lockdown. But, as Dr Mukherjee says, "we cannot let our guards down and surrender to destiny".

grinding adj. /?ɡra?nd??/ ?( of a difficult situation 困難的形勢(shì) ) that never ends or improves 沒完沒了的；無休止的；無改進(jìn)的?? grinding poverty 貧困不堪

原文鏈接：https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-53674857

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