India battles triple disaster

Indian authorities this week deployed drones and insecticide sprayers to combat the nation’s worst locust outbreak in nearly three decades. Local farmers banged on plates and lit fires to drive the swarms from their farms. Meanwhile, temperatures in New Delhi hit 118 degrees this week, the warmest day in May on record in 18 years.

How is this affecting the fight against the coronavirus? Cyclone Amphan battered India and Bangladesh last week, triggering a heat wave that spurred many Indians to forgo face masks. The country is preparing to lift shutdown orders but saw a record one-day increase of more than 6,500 new cases on Thursday. The country has recorded more than 160,300 confirmed cases of COVID-19, close to 4,600 deaths, and nearly 69,000 recoveries.

Dig deeper: Read Mindy Belz’s column about how Cyclone Amphan complicated India’s COVID-19 response.