当前，印度新冠疫情的形势仍然严峻。就在最近，印度恒河上出现疑似新冠患者尸体，引发恐慌。此前就有报道显示，印度多个火葬场出现遗体积压情况，连火化场地和木柴都出现短缺。（戳这里回顾）

《今日印度》：北方邦哈米尔普尔县的居民在恒河支流亚穆纳河上发现数十具浮尸，当地居民担忧新冠疫情传播。


据路透社16日报道，根据印度当地政府的文件显示，印度恒河出现的浮尸中，存在新冠死亡病例。
 


根据路透社报道，一封政府部门信件显示，印度河流水域中发现的尸体中，包括了新冠死亡病例的尸体。

Bodies of COVID-19 victims have been found dumped in some Indian rivers, a state government said in a letter seen by Reuters. 

值得注意的是，外媒认为这是官方首次承认恒河浮尸有新冠死者，背后的原因则是贫困的农村地区对疾病的恐惧。

法国国际广播电台网站：印度确认数百具恒河发现的尸体为新冠死者


 
据路透社报道，近来尸体顺着恒河而下的图片开始流传，给已经笼罩在疫情暴增阴影中的印度带来很大冲击。恒河被很多印度人视为“圣河”。 尽管媒体认为，最近河中尸体数量增加和疫情有关，但是印度北方邦至今仍然没有公开这些人的死因。

Images of corpses drifting down the Ganges river, which Hindus consider holy, have shocked a nation reeling under the world's worst surge in infections. Although media have linked the recent increase in the numbers of such bodies to the pandemic, the northern state of Uttar Pradesh, home to 240 million people, has until now not publicly revealed the cause of the deaths.

而在路透社掌握的信件内容中，当地高级官员Manoj Kumar Singh写道，“政府得到消息，死者可能感染新冠或其他疾病，其遗体被扔到河里，而没有通过恰当的仪式程序进行处理。结果就是，很多地方发现了河里的尸体。”

"The administration has information that bodies of those who have succumbed to COVID-19 or any other disease are being thrown into rivers instead of being disposed of as per proper rituals," a senior state official, Manoj Kumar Singh, said in a May 14 letter to district heads that was reviewed by Reuters. "As a result, bodies have been recovered from rivers in many places."

India TV网站的报道则显示，甚至有多达500具尸体被发现。
 


据路透社报道，在印度第二波疫情形势中，北方邦受到严重影响。卫生专家指出，在人口密集的农村地区，很多病例都没有得到检测。

Uttar Pradesh has been badly hit by India's dramatic second surge of COVID-19. Health experts say many cases are going undetected in the state's villages, home to the bulk of its people.

Singh在信中还写道，缺乏购置丧葬材料的资金，比如火化所用的柴火；部分地区的宗教信仰；以及因为对疫情的恐惧而抛弃死者遗体，都可能导致河中尸体数量的增加。

In the memo, Singh said a lack of funds for materials such as firewood for cremation, religious beliefs in some communities, and families abandoning victims for fear of the disease were among the likely reasons for the surge in dumping.


当地时间2021年4月12日，印度哈里瓦尔，大批民众在恒河内沐浴，庆祝大壶节。图源：视觉中国

印度官方的统计中，近两周每天约有四千人因为疫情死亡，但是也有专家认为实际该数字可能更高，原因之一是农村地区缺乏检测能力。

India has been officially reporting about 4,000 daily deaths from the disease for nearly two weeks, but health experts say the toll is probably much higher because of factors such as poor testing in rural areas.


5月16日，一名女子在印度普拉亚格拉杰接受新冠病毒检测取样。新华社发

上周六，北方邦发言人Navneet Sehga否认最近有“2000具可能是新冠死者尸体从河中打捞出来”的新闻。发言人接受路透社采访时称，“时不时就会发现10-20具尸体，”有些地方有特殊的宗教传统不采取火葬。

Last Saturday, Uttar Pradesh spokesman Navneet Sehgal denied media reports that as many as 2,000 corpses of possible virus victims had been pulled from rivers in the state and neighbouring Bihar in recent days."We keep recovering 10 to 20 bodies every now and then," Sehgal told Reuters, adding that some riverside villages did not cremate their dead due to Hindu traditions during some periods of religious significance.

据环球网援引印度报业托拉斯和《今日印度》报道，印度中央政府11日曾要求恒河沿岸各邦阻止向恒河内弃尸的行为。印度水利部长谢卡瓦特表示，政府已“严肃地注意到”此事，并已经采取措施禁止这一现象。他还说，相关政府机构将确保依规处理所有身份不明的遗体。水利部下属的国家清洁恒河委员会（National Mission for Clean Ganga）也在当地时间11日发表声明称，已经要求各地的相关机构提高警惕，“立即”停止在恒河中倾倒死尸、半烧毁、无人认领或无名尸体。

据新华社报道，印度卫生部17日公布的数据显示，过去24小时，印度新增新冠确诊病例281386例，累计确诊24965463例；新增死亡病例4106例，累计死亡274390例。印度单日新增确诊病例数4月22日首次突破30万例，并在5月份连续多天超过40万例，截至5月16日连续25天保持在30万例以上。尽管过去几天印度单日新增确诊病例数逐步下降，但疫情严峻形势仍未缓解，17日新增确诊病例数降至30万例以下更多是由于刚刚过去的周末检测人数下降造成的。


5月17日，在印度诺伊达的一个“免下车”新冠疫苗接种点，医务人员为一名女子接种疫苗。新华社发（帕塔·萨卡尔摄）

综合来源：新华网，中国日报微信公众号，环球网， 路透社，央视财经