India's virus cases lower but WHO expert says positive tests ominously high
Skip to main content
  • Home
  • Economy
  • Stocks
  • Analysis
  • World+Biz
  • Sports
  • Splash
  • Features
  • Videos
  • Long Read
  • Games
  • Epaper
  • More
    • COVID-19
    • Bangladesh
    • Infograph
    • Interviews
    • Offbeat
    • Thoughts
    • Podcast
    • Quiz
    • Tech
    • Subscribe
    • Archive
    • Trial By Trivia
    • Magazine
    • Supplement
  • বাংলা
The Business Standard
SATURDAY, MAY 28, 2022
SATURDAY, MAY 28, 2022
  • Home
  • Economy
  • Stocks
  • Analysis
  • World+Biz
  • Sports
  • Splash
  • Features
  • Videos
  • Long Read
  • Games
  • Epaper
  • More
    • COVID-19
    • Bangladesh
    • Infograph
    • Interviews
    • Offbeat
    • Thoughts
    • Podcast
    • Quiz
    • Tech
    • Subscribe
    • Archive
    • Trial By Trivia
    • Magazine
    • Supplement
  • বাংলা
India's virus cases lower but WHO expert says positive tests ominously high

Coronavirus chronicle

Reuters
17 May, 2021, 01:50 pm
Last modified: 17 May, 2021, 02:01 pm

Related News

  • Japan to allow lethal defence equipment exports to India, 11 countries
  • An electricity bill that connects Brahmanbaria with Tripura
  • North Korea says new fever cases under 100,000 as virus fight heats up
  • First steps in reforming global health emergency rules agreed at WHO meeting
  • India likely to export around 6 lakh tonnes of wheat to Bangladesh

India's virus cases lower but WHO expert says positive tests ominously high

"Testing is still inadequate in a large number of states. And when you see high test positivity rates, clearly we are not testing enough"

Reuters
17 May, 2021, 01:50 pm
Last modified: 17 May, 2021, 02:01 pm
File Photo: A patient wearing an oxygen mask is seen inside an ambulance waiting to enter a COVID-19 hospital for treatment, amidst the spread of the coronavirus disease (Covid-19) in Ahmedabad, India, April 25, 2021. REUTERS/Amit Dave
File Photo: A patient wearing an oxygen mask is seen inside an ambulance waiting to enter a COVID-19 hospital for treatment, amidst the spread of the coronavirus disease (Covid-19) in Ahmedabad, India, April 25, 2021. REUTERS/Amit Dave

India on Monday reported a further decline in new coronavirus cases though daily deaths remained above 4,000 and experts warned that the count was unreliable due to a lack of testing in rural areas, where the virus is spreading fast.

For months now, nowhere in the world has been hit harder than India by the pandemic, as a new strain of the virus first found there fuelled a surge in infections that has risen to more than 400,000 daily.

Even with a downturn over the past few days, experts said there was no certainty that infections had peaked, with alarm growing both at home and abroad over the new more contagious B.1.617 variant taking hold.

"There are still many parts of the country which have not yet experienced the peak, they are still going up," World Health Organization Chief Scientist Soumya Swaminathan was quoted as saying in the Hindu newspaper.

Swaminathan pointed to the worryingly high national positivity rate, at about 20% of tests conducted, as a sign that there could be worse to come.

"Testing is still inadequate in a large number of states. And when you see high test positivity rates, clearly we are not testing enough. And so the absolute numbers actually don't mean anything when they are taken just by themselves; they have to be taken in the context of how much testing is done, and test positivity rate."

Having begun to decline last week, and new infections over the past 24 hours were put at 281,386 by the health ministry on Monday, dropping below 300,000 for the first time since April 21. The daily death count stood at 4,106.

At the current rate India's total caseload since the epidemic struck a year ago should pass the 25 million mark in the next couple of days. Total deaths were put at 274,390.

Hospitals have had to turn patients away while mortuaries and crematoriums have been unable to cope with bodies piling up. Photographs and television images of funeral pyres burning in parking lots and corpses washing up on the banks of the Ganges river have fuelled impatience with the government's handling of the crisis.

It is widely accepted that the official figures grossly underestimate the real impact of the epidemic, with some experts saying actual infections and deaths could be five to 10 times higher.

'Illusions'

Whereas the first wave of the epidemic in India, which peaked in September, was largely concentrated in urban areas, where testing was introduced faster, the second wave that erupted in February is rampaging through rural towns and villages, where about two-thirds of the country's 1.35 billion people live, and testing in those places is sorely lacking.

"This drop in confirmed Covid cases in India is an illusion," S. Vincent Rajkumar, a professor of medicine at the Mayo Clinic in the United States, said on Twitter.

"First, due to limited testing, the total number of cases is a huge underestimate. Second, confirmed cases can only occur where you can confirm: the urban areas. Rural areas are not getting counted."

While lockdowns have helped limit cases in parts of the country that had been hit by an initial surge of infections in February and April, such as Maharashtra and Delhi, rural areas and some states are dealing with fresh surges.

The government issued detailed guidelines on Sunday for monitoring Covid-19 cases with the health ministry asking villages to look out for people with flu-like illness and get them tested for Covid-19.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has come under fire for his messaging to the public, a decision to leave key decisions on lockdowns to states, and the slow rollout of an immunisation campaign in the world's biggest vaccine producer.

India has fully vaccinated just over 40.4 million people, or 2.9% of its population.

A top virologist told Reuters on Sunday that he had resigned from a forum of scientific advisers set up by the government to detect variants of the coronavirus.

Shahid Jameel, chair of the scientific advisory group of the forum known as INSACOG, declined to say why he had resigned but said he was concerned that authorities were not paying enough attention to the evidence as they set policy.

World+Biz / South Asia

India / COVID-19 / cases / WHO

Comments

While most comments will be posted if they are on-topic and not abusive, moderation decisions are subjective. Published comments are readers’ own views and The Business Standard does not endorse any of the readers’ comments.

Top Stories

  • Plucking the poultry: New tax regime for the sector on cards
    Plucking the poultry: New tax regime for the sector on cards
  • Dr Zahid Hussain. Illustration: TBS
    The economics of remittance subsidy
  • Starlink is ideal in rural or remote locations where internet access has been unreliable or completely unavailable. Photo: SpaceX
    Time for a reality check: How viable is Starlink in Bangladesh?

MOST VIEWED

  • North Korea says new fever cases under 100,000 as virus fight heats up
    North Korea says new fever cases under 100,000 as virus fight heats up
  • People in protective suits cross a street during lockdown, amid the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic, in Shanghai, China, May 26, 2022. REUTERS/Aly Song
    Shanghai heading out of lockdown but China still lost in economic gloom
  • A woman wearing a face mask crosses a road at the Central Business District (CBD), amid the coronavirus disease (Covid-19) outbreak in Beijing, China May 10, 2022. REUTERS/Carlos Garcia Rawlins
    Tightening Covid net, Beijing deals out punishments, stark warnings
  • A medical worker takes a swab sample from a person for a nucleic acid test at a makeshift testing site, amid the coronavirus disease (Covid-19) outbreak, in Beijing, China May 23, 2022. REUTERS/Tingshu Wang
    Beijing ramps up Covid quarantine, Shanghai residents decry uneven rules
  • A vial labelled with the Pfizer-BioNTech coronavirus disease (Covid-19) vaccine is seen in this illustration picture taken March 19, 2021. Photo :Reuters
    Pfizer says 3 Covid shots protect children under 5
  • A medical worker takes a swab sample from a person for a nucleic acid test at a makeshift testing site, amid the coronavirus disease (Covid-19) outbreak, in Beijing, China May 23, 2022. REUTERS/Tingshu Wang
    Beijing urges millions to keep working from home amid Covid outbreak menace

Related News

  • Japan to allow lethal defence equipment exports to India, 11 countries
  • An electricity bill that connects Brahmanbaria with Tripura
  • North Korea says new fever cases under 100,000 as virus fight heats up
  • First steps in reforming global health emergency rules agreed at WHO meeting
  • India likely to export around 6 lakh tonnes of wheat to Bangladesh

Features

Starlink is ideal in rural or remote locations where internet access has been unreliable or completely unavailable. Photo: SpaceX

Time for a reality check: How viable is Starlink in Bangladesh?

27m | Panorama
Car myths that really need to go away

Car myths that really need to go away

32m | Wheels
The taboo of dining out alone

The taboo of dining out alone

21h | Food
The perfect time for newborn photography is between the first five and 14 days when a baby’s bones are the most malleable for posing. Photo: Courtesy

Is there a market for newborn photography in the country? Studio Picturerific says yes

22h | Panorama

More Videos from TBS

Photo: TBS

Education at Tk1 changing lives, making dreams come true

42m | Videos
Photo: TBS

An electricity bill that connects Brahmanbaria with Tripura

47m | Videos
Chapped lips in summer, why?

Chapped lips in summer, why?

52m | Videos
Fear of food crisis sets across the globe

Fear of food crisis sets across the globe

17h | Videos

Most Read

1
Bangladesh at risk of losing ownership of Banglar Samriddhi
Bangladesh

Bangladesh at risk of losing ownership of Banglar Samriddhi

2
Corporates go cashless…tax cut on cards
NBR

Corporates go cashless…tax cut on cards

3
Photo: Courtesy
Panorama

Misfit Technologies: A Singaporean startup rooted firmly in Bangladesh

4
Tk100 for bike, Tk2,400 for bus to cross Padma Bridge
Bangladesh

Tk100 for bike, Tk2,400 for bus to cross Padma Bridge

5
British International Investment (BII) CEO Nick O’Donohoe. Illustration: TBS
Economy

BII to invest $450m in Bangladesh in 5 years

6
Representational image. Picture: Pixabay
Economy

Govt raises regulatory duty to discourage imports of 130 products

The Business Standard
Top
  • Home
  • Entertainment
  • Sports
  • About Us
  • Bangladesh
  • International
  • Privacy Policy
  • Comment Policy
  • Contact Us
  • Economy
  • Sitemap
  • RSS

Contact Us

The Business Standard

Main Office -4/A, Eskaton Garden, Dhaka- 1000

Phone: +8801847 416158 - 59

Send Opinion articles to - oped.tbs@gmail.com

For advertisement- sales@tbsnews.net

Copyright © 2022 THE BUSINESS STANDARD All rights reserved. Technical Partner: RSI Lab