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India reports highest COVID-19 deaths in a month
Maharashtra, home to the financial capital of Mumbai, has reported 130,753 of the country's 418,480 coronavirus deaths, and added 3,509 earlier deaths to its tally, the federal health ministry said on Wednesday.
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A worker places a sticker on the floor for devotees to maintain social distancing during prayers as the Jama Masjid mosque reopens after the government eased a nationwide lockdown imposed as a preventive measure against the spread of the COVID-19 coronavirus, in the old quarters of New Delhi on July 7, 2020. - India on July 6 became the country with the third-highest coronavirus caseload in the world, as a group of scientists said there was now overwhelming evidence that the disease can be airborne -- and for far longer than originally thought. India's major cities including New Delhi and Mumbai are suffering the most, and critics say not enough tests are being conducted -- meaning that many COVID-19 infections are likely to go undiagnosed. (AFP/XAVIER GALIANA )
I
ndia reported its highest death toll in a month on Wednesday - at nearly 4,000 - after its richest state reconciled its death count with 3,509 previously unreported fatalities, the health ministry said.
Maharashtra, home to the financial capital of Mumbai, has reported 130,753 of the country's 418,480 coronavirus deaths, and added 3,509 earlier deaths to its tally, the federal health ministry said on Wednesday.
The ministry did not give a reason but authorities have in the past attributed other instances of deaths going unreported to administrative errors, before the mistakes are discovered and the numbers appear in official data.
Read also: Indonesia looks to India for COVID-19 response template, testing remains key
Last month, the poor northern state of Bihar raised its death toll by more than 5,000 in a day when it included some unrecorded data.
The sudden appearance of previously unrecorded deaths has lent weight to suspicion that India's overall death tally is significantly more than the official figure, Reuters reported.
India's tally of infections stands at 31.22 million, with a death toll of 418,480, according to official data.
But the Washington-based Center for Global Development estimated said in a report on Tuesday that India's real death toll from COVID-19 could be as high as 4.9 million.
On Wednesday, the government reported 42,015 new coronavirus infections in the previous 24 hours, health ministry data showed.
On Tuesday, a US research institute said the total number of COVID-19 deaths in India could be higher than 4 million, which is 10 times more than the government's official count.
"True deaths are likely to be in the several millions not hundreds of thousands, making this arguably India's worst human tragedy since partition and independence," the Center for Global Development said in a report, quoted by Kyodo News.
The center reported India's all-cause excess mortality estimates from three different data sources, including extrapolation of state-level civil registration from seven states, from the pandemic's start through June.
"There is considerable uncertainty within and across estimates. They range from about 1 million to 6 million overall, with central estimates varying between 3.4 to 4.9 million," it said.
Read also: RI COVID-19 death rate now higher than India’s second wave
After the severe second wave hit the South Asian country in May, it became difficult for the government to control the situation, especially with the Delta variant spreading rapidly.
The country has struggled with a shortage of hospital beds and, medical oxygen, while many people have died in unexplained circumstances.
