The National Centre for Disease Control conducted testing between June 27 and July 10. yesterday, India's Health Ministry reported a total of 1.19 million coronavirus cases with nearly 29,000 deaths. The States of Maharashtra, Delhi and Tamil Nadu are the most affected.
Delhi (AsiaNews/Agencies) – A study has found that almost a quarter of people in New Delhi have had the coronavirus, casting serious doubts about the official numbers both in the megacity and across India.
India last week became the third country after the United States and Brazil to reach a million cases, but many experts have long said that with low testing rates, the real number could be much higher.
Blood tests by the National Centre for Disease Control on 21,387 randomly selected people between 27 June and 10 July showed that 23.48 per cent of them had IgG antibodies, indicating past exposure to the virus.
The results published yesterday by the Federal Health Ministry suggest that 4.7 million people out of a population of more than 20 million have had the virus, almost 40 times the official tally of 125,000.
Whilst praising government restrictions that have limited the spread of the virus, the Ministry said that the study "indicates that a large number of infected people remain asymptomatic."
And more than 75 per cent are still vulnerable, including those at higher risk, Sujeet Kumar Singh, head of the National Centre for Disease Control, told a news conference.
Today the Health Ministry reported a total of 1.19 million coronavirus cases so far with almost 29,000 deaths. Maharashtra, Delhi and Tamil Nadu states are the worst affected.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government imposed one of the world's strictest lockdowns in late March, but it has been steadily eased in recent months to lessen its devastating economic impact.
Notwithstanding the federal government’s actions, Indian States like Karnataka, Bihar, West Bengal, Kerala and Tamil Nadu have tightened restrictions as the number of cases rose.
However, in recent weeks, daily new cases have been steadily falling, with fewer than a thousand new infections recorded on Tuesday, the first time in 49 days, down from a peak of almost 4,000 in late June.