Contrasting strategies
https://www.ctvnews.ca/health/coronavirus/a-glimpse-of-normalcy-a-new-zealand-band-plays-to-50-000-fans-1.5400923
Singer Matiu Walters grinned as he gazed out over 50,000 damp but delirious fans and said those magic words: "So, what's up Eden Park?"
While much of the world remains hunkered down, the band Six60 has been playing to huge crowds in New Zealand, where social distancing isn't required after the nation stamped out the coronavirus.
New Zealand had 9 new cases in the past 7 days, 33 active cases total, all at the border. No active community cases.
https://www.ctvnews.ca/health/coronavirus/india-virus-patients-suffocate-from-low-oxygen-amid-surge-1.5400805
Indian authorities scrambled Saturday to get oxygen tanks to hospitals where COVID-19 patients were suffocating amid the world's worst coronavirus surge, as the government came under increasing criticism for what doctors said was its negligence in the face of a foreseeable public health disaster.
For the third day in a row, India set a global daily record of new infections. The 346,786 confirmed cases over the past day brought India's total to more than 16 million, behind only the United States.
In a sign of the desperation unfolding over the shortages, a high court in Delhi warned Saturday it would "hang" anyone who tries to obstruct the delivery of emergency oxygen supplies, amid evidence that some local authorities were diverting tanks to hospitals in their areas. The court, which was hearing submissions by a group of hospitals over the oxygen shortages, termed the devastating rise in infections a "tsunami."
....
India's infection surge, blamed on a highly contagious variant first detected here, came after Prime Minister Narendra Modi declared victory over the coronavirus in January, telling the virtual gathering of the World Economic Forum that India's success couldn't be compared with anywhere else.
"In a country which is home to 18% of the world population, that country has saved humanity from a big disaster by containing corona effectively," Modi said.
But health experts and critics say a downward trend in infections late last year lulled authorities into complacency, as they failed to plug the holes in the ailing health care system that had become evident during the first wave. They also blame politicians and government authorities for allowing super-spreader events, including religious festivals and election rallies, to take place as recently as this month.
