India’s death toll from the coronavirus has surpassed 35,000, beating Italy’s, as floods that affect millions and kill nearly 350 hinder the battle against the pandemic.
With 779 deaths in 24 hours, the Health Ministry on Friday estimated the total deaths at 35,743, the fifth highest number in the world behind the United States, Brazil, the United Kingdom and Mexico, according to Johns Hopkins University.
Total infections in the world’s second most populous country are now 1.63 million, surpassed only by the US and Brazil, which have much smaller populations.
But many experts have questioned India’s official numbers, saying that authorities are not testing enough people and that many coronavirus-related deaths are not being properly recorded.
“Serological surveys being carried out across the country to detect antibodies show that the actual number of cases in India is much higher than the confirmed number,” said Elizabeth Puranam of Al Jazeera, reporting from the capital, New Delhi.
Puranam said that Mumbai, home to 20 million people and the capital of India’s worst-hit state, Maharashtra, serological surveys showed that “almost 60 percent of people have had the virus.”
Last week, a study indicated that almost a quarter of people in New Delhi have had the virus, almost 40 times the official total.
Puranam also said Thursday that authorities evaluated more than 600,000 people, the highest daily record in the country so far, and that they aim to increase testing to approximately one million people per day.
Floods making it more difficult
Meanwhile, floods caused by annual monsoon rains in eastern and northeastern India that have displaced tens of thousands of people have been hampering efforts to stop the spread of the coronavirus.
The floods have inundated large parts of the densely populated state of Bihar and affected nearly four million people on Friday, hampering the response to the pandemic.
Floods have killed at least 24 people in the state, where downpours have submerged thousands of villages in 12 districts and further strained the already fragile health system.
A partially submerged government building is seen in a flooded area in the Bhagalpur district of eastern Bihar state, India [Stringer/Reuters]
More than 300,000 villagers have been evacuated to relief camps, and authorities warned of additional heavy rains in the next two days.
Bihar one of the poorest states in the country whose primary health care system has long been neglected, faces annual perennial flooding from rivers originating in neighboring Nepal affecting millions.
However, doctors and experts say the biggest concern this year is the rapid spread of the coronavirus; So far, the state has recorded 48,197 cases, including 282 deaths.
That’s a much lower death toll compared to other densely populated states that are witnessing a sharp rise in infections, but with experts warning of multiple spikes ahead, Bihar could face an uphill task to stop the spread of the virus. .
“Unless the state government acts along the lines of the Delhi government, where hotels were turned into extended hospitals and testing was emphasized, the situation would go beyond control,” said Sunil Kumar, a health expert at Bihar.
Kumar said the situation could become critical because the rules for social distancing were hardly followed in the flooded districts.
“How can you expect people devastated by the floods to take refuge on roads and embankments to wear masks and maintain social distance?” Kumar added, noting that the state did not have the human resources to deal with a pandemic.
SOURCE:
Al Jazeera and news agencies
.
