NEW DELHI – As if the coronavirus wasn't enough, India grappled with scorching temperatures and the worst locust invasion in decades as authorities prepared for the end of a monthslong lockdown despite recording thousands of new infections every day.
This triple disaster drew biblical comparisons and forced officials to try to balance the competing demands of simultaneous public health crises: encourage people to protect themselves from eviscerating heat but also practice social distancing in newly reopened parks and markets.
The heat wave threatens to compound the challenges of containing the virus, which has started spreading more quickly and broadly since the government began easing restrictions of one of the world’s most stringent