Millions could have died from India's Covid-19 pandemic: report

More than 4 million people could have died from coronavirus in India, according to a report which alleges that the government's death toll is being seriously undercounted.

The official Covid-19 death toll in India stands at about 310,000 in a nation of about 1.4 billion. An analysis by the New York Times claims the real number of deaths is likely over 1 million people.

The most conservative estimate from the analysis says India’s true death toll is closer to 600,000, or double the official count, however, the "more likely" scenario estimates the true number to be 1.6 million dead. 

The worst-case scenario estimates that as many as 4.2 million residents died from the deadly virus. 

The analysis took into account the lack of track and trace, and testing facilities in India, which suggests many have died without receiving a coronavirus test and thus left off official statistics.

'We're living in hell': India in catastrophe as overcrowded hospitals buckle under a Covid tsunami https://t.co/1DoISBN0Uf

— The New Arab (@The_NewArab) May 26, 2021

While case numbers are easing in much of India, the country of 1.3 billion people has been shocked by the severity of the latest wave of the pandemic, which overwhelmed hospitals and led to critical shortages of oxygen and medicines. 

On Friday, the World Health Organization said the real global death toll from Covid-19 could be two to three times higher than the current statistic, meaning between 6 to 10 million people would have died of the disease worldwide.

The report comes months after medics in India expressed fears that government statistics have been underplayed.

"The government is providing skewed data... We've lost the plot completely. It's the complete breakdown of the whole goddamn system," said Indian virologist Shahid Jameel earlier this month.

Scientists who are closely tracking the virus forecast that if the brutal surge continues, it will further unfold into a global tragedy that will be hard to tackle in the foreseeable future. However, cases are seeming to level off.

Reports out of India show a country that is still largely overwhelmed by the virus and struggling to secure enough vaccine supplies for residents, some of whom lack the resources to make online appointments. So far, only about 3 percent of India’s population has been vaccinated as the rollout has put the nation’s poorest at a huge disadvantage. 

Covid-19 patients are often seen waiting at entrances of overcrowded government-run hospitals.

Attendants are scrambling to obtain life-saving drugs and oxygen cylinders before critically ill patients die.

Private hospitals have also been pushed to their limits and are at breaking point, amid the double mutant rise which is hitting citizens of all age groups.

Last week, India set the record for the highest number of daily coronavirus deaths with 4,529 deaths in just one 24-hour period.