Amidst recent surge, Covid-19 death toll in India has surpassed 200,000 as at Wednesday with more than 3,000 fatalities reported in the last 24 hours
India, home to the world’s worst ongoing coronavirus outbreak has reported more than 17.6 million cases since the begining of the pandemic in 2020. But the real number, experts fear, could be up to 30 times higher — meaning more than half a billion cases.
The country has as a matter of fact seen more Covid cases in the last seven days than any other country in the world, people have died waiting for beds, as oxygen supplies run low and hospitals crumble under the strain.
Health workers and scientists in India have long warned that Covid-19 infections and related deaths are significantly underreported for several reasons, including poor infrastructure, human error, and low testing levels.
“It’s widely known that both the case numbers and the mortality figures are undercounts, they always have been,” said Ramanan Laxminarayan, director of the Center for Disease Dynamics, Economics and Policy in New Delhi.
The recent surge in positive cases is partly because of a new virus variant as well as the mass political and religious events held across the country.
The crisis is particularly severe in New Delhi, with people dying outside packed hospitals where three people are often forced to share beds. Clinics have been running out of oxygen.
India has so far administered 150 million vaccine shots about 1.6% of its total population and from Saturday the programme will be expanded to include all adults, meaning 600 million more people will be eligible.
However, many states are warning that they have insufficient vaccine stocks and experts are calling on the government to prioritise vulnerable groups and badly hit areas.
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