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：这个单词我们应该见面三次了，有鞭策，刺激，激励的意思

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

intermittent adj. /ˌɪntəˈmɪtənt/  stopping and starting often over a period of time, but not regularly 断断续续的；间歇的·intermittent lockdowns 间歇性封城

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：少计（尤其是人口统计数）

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. /ˈɡruːəlɪŋ/  very difficult and tiring, needing great effort for a long time 使人筋疲力尽的；折磨人的 • a gruelling journey/schedule 使人筋疲力尽的旅程；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. /ˈpætʃi/  

1.existing or happening in some places and not others 零散的；散落的；分布不匀的 •patchy fog 团团的雾 •The grass was dry and patchy. 草都干了，东一片西一片的。

2.( NAmE also also spotty ) not complete; good in some parts, but not in others 不完整的；参差不齐的 •a patchy knowledge of Spanish 对西班牙语一知半解

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（印度濒孟加拉湾的邦）

shoot up ： If something shoots up, it grows or increases very quickly. 快速成长; 激增  • Sales shot up by 9% last month. 上个月的销售猛增了9%。

Caseload：积累案牍之数量，待处理案件数量，工作量  这个单词也遇到很多次

A 'patchwork pandemic'

By Soutik Biswas, BBC News, Delhi

patchwork n. /ˈpætʃwɜːk/  

1.（不同图案杂色布块的）拼缝物；拼布工艺 •a patchwork quilt 拼布绗缝盖被

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

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 /kɔɪl/  1.~ (sth) round, around, etc. sth~ (sth) up to wind into a series of circles; to make sth do this （使）缠绕，盘绕 •Mist coiled around the tops of the hills. 薄雾盘绕着山巅。 •to coil a rope into a loop 把绳索盘绕成。2. 线圈；一圈（绳索）；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 /ˌhetərədʒəˈniːəti/. [生物] 异质性；[化学] 不均匀性；[化学] 多相性

wax /wæks/ 上蜡；唱片；蜡膜形成

wane /weɪn/v. （月亮）亏缺；（尤指状况、感觉）衰落，减少n. 减弱；月亏

infections are waxing and waning in different states at different points：这句话联系上下文，个人认为指疫情在印度各邦表现不一样，有严重有减弱。

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：达拉维贫民窟    Mumbai：孟买

robust adj.  /rəʊˈbʌst/  

1.strong and healthy 强健的；强壮的 •She was almost 90, but still very robust. 她将近90岁了，但身体仍然十分强健。

2.strong; able to survive being used a lot and not likely to break 结实的；耐用的；坚固的 •a robust piece of equipment 经久耐用的设备

3.( of a system or an organization 体制或机构 ) strong and not likely to fail or become weak 强劲的；富有活力的•robust economic growth 强劲的经济增长

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

robust federal strategy：稳健的联邦政策策略

有一个鲁棒效应或者叫做鲁棒性（robustness）的管理科学词汇，就是强调系统的稳健性，在异常和危险情况下系统生存的关键。

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. /ˈɡraɪndɪŋ/  ( of a difficult situation 困难的形势 ) that never ends or improves 没完没了的；无休止的；无改进的 • grinding poverty 贫困不堪

原文链接：https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-53674857