Epidemic Of Scams Adds to India’s Covid Catastrophe

Even with the second wave past its peak, India is seeing well over 100,000 cases per day. Large gatherings and lenient restrictions are major factors, and mass vaccinations themselves may have been superspreader events, according to one expert source quoted in an article from  Scientific American. Meanwhile, Covid patients and their relatives, desperate for oxygen, hospital beds or drugs, are being targeted by scams. Fake medicines, repainted fire extinguishers sold as oxygen canisters, and expensive deals for non-existent hospital slots are among the products being sold to people from all walks of life. In Noida, one of the greenest and most prosperous cities in India, an executive was furious after being swindled when trying to get oxygen for a sick friend, says an article from Al Jazeera,  “Hang them all,” he sad. “They are playing with human life.”