By NewsDesk @infectiousdiseasenews
Today, India became the fourth country to top a half million COVID-19 cases. The India Ministry of Health puts the total at 508,953, which includes nearly 300,000 recoveries and 15685 deaths.
Maharashtra state, which includes the city of Mumbai, has reported more than 152,000 total cases and 7100 deaths.
Delhi has reported 77,000 cases and 2500 deaths. The rate of infections in the city, where almost all businesses were allowed to reopen earlier this month, has continued to increase steadily. Government data provided on Friday showed that 3,390 new infections were confirmed over the past 24 hours alone.
A third of Delhi’s roughly 70,000 coronavirus cases have been recorded in the past week alone, and the number has doubled in just 13 days.
The Delhi government’s own estimates project more than 500,000 COVID-19 cases in the city by the end of July.
While the country has recorded some of the highest cases in the world, officials say the surprisingly low death rate could be misleading. The true scale of the epidemic there might not be apparent. The country has an incomplete death-registration system, which means that not all deaths are recorded and the documented cause is often incorrect.
This raises questions about India’s COVID-19 mortality rate, which is officially 11 deaths per million people in the population — among the lowest in the world. By comparison, the United Kingdom has seen 635 deaths per million people, and the United States has seen 376.
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