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Virus, heat wave and locusts form perfect storm in India

India is facing a triple disaster that drew biblical comparisons with scorching temperatures, locust swarms and a coronavirus toll growing by thousands.
Credit: AP
An Indian man selling earthen pots beneath a bridge drinks water in Ahmedabad, India, Thursday, May 28, 2020. India faced scorching temperatures and the worst locust invasion in decades on Thursday as authorities prepared for the end of a months-long coronavirus lockdown despite recording thousands of new infections every day. (AP Photo/Ajit Solanki)

India is facing a triple disaster that drew biblical comparisons with scorching temperatures, locust swarms and a coronavirus toll growing by thousands of new infections each day. 

Officials are trying to balance the competing demands of simultaneous public health crises: protecting people from eviscerating heat but also contagion in newly reopened parks and markets. 

The heat wave threatens to compound the challenges of containing the virus, which is spreading more quickly and broadly since the government began easing restrictions of one of the world’s most stringent lockdowns earlier this month. 

At the same time, swarms of desert locusts have devastated crops in India’s heartland, threatening an already vulnerable region that is struggling with the economic cost of the lockdown. 

Credit: AP
This grab made from Wednesday, May 27, 2020 video provided by KK Productions, shows locusts swarming over city and near by area in Indore, Madhya Pradesh, India. India is grappling with scorching temperatures and the worst locust invasion in decades as authorities prepared for the end of a months long lockdown despite recording thousands of new infections every day. (KK Production via AP)

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