Indian data hints at runaway virus spread as daily deaths hit record (updated)

Thyrocare Technologies

19/05/2021 09:33

(Adds new research, context, background)
    By Manas Mishra and Tanvi Mehta
    BENGALURU, May 19 (Reuters) - Nearly two-thirds of people
tested in India have shown exposure to the novel coronavirus, a
chain of private laboratories said on Wednesday, indicating a
runaway spread of the virus as the daily death toll rose to a
record 4,529.
    India reported 267,334 new daily infections on Wednesday,
taking its tally to 25.5 million, with a death toll of 283,248,
health ministry data showed.
    For months, nowhere in the world has been hit harder than
India by the pandemic, as a new variant discovered there fuelled
a surge of up to more than 400,000 new infections a day.
    Only the United States has had more cases, or a worse single
day death toll, when it lost 5,444 people on Feb. 12, a Reuters
tracker shows.
    But even with a downturn in the number of new cases in India
over the past few days, if not in deaths, experts said there was
no certainty that infections had peaked.
    It is widely accepted that the official figures grossly
underestimate the real impact of the epidemic, with some experts
saying infections and deaths could be five to 10 times higher.
    There are fears that the new, highly infectious variant is
out of control and that many cases are going unreported because
of lack of testing, particularly in the vast countryside.
    Data from Thyrocare, a chain of private laboratories,
appeared to back up those fears, showing that 63.5% of people
tested positive for COVID-19 antibodies on average over the last
seven days, up from 45% a month ago.
    The data from 25 states included individuals who were
infected in the past, vaccinated, uninfected and those who had
not been vaccinated, the company's Chief Executive Arokiaswamy
Velumani said on Twitter.
    
    FEW TESTS IN THE HINTERLAND
    Daily testing hit a record 2 million on Tuesday, figures
from the state-run Indian Council of Medical Research showed. 
    But that still falls short of India's claimed daily testing
capacity of 3.3 million, said Rijo M John, a professor at the
Rajagiri College of Social Sciences in the southern city of
Kochi.
    India performed 224 tests for every 1,000 of its population
in a single day this month, according to estimates by research
firm GlobalData. This compared with 1,307 tests per 1,000 of
population in the United States on the same day, the firm said.
    "Many of these tests are being deployed in urban centers,
where cases may have peaked and so it doesn't serve much
purpose," added John. 
    "It's time they were diverted to more rural areas, but I
doubt that is being done."  
    Prime Minister Narendra Modi's popularity has fallen to 63%,
its lowest since U.S. data intelligence firm Morning Consult
began tracking it in 2019, amid criticism of his government's
handling of the pandemic.
    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.
    India is the world's largest vaccine maker, but criticism
has also mounted over a slow vaccination campaign, plagued by a
lack of supplies.
    The government said about 98% of the population of 1.3
billion remained susceptible to infections.
    India halted vaccine exports a month ago after donating or
selling more than 66 million doses, and government sources told
Reuters it was unlikely to resume major exports of vaccines
until at least October, as it prioritises domestic needs.
    
     (Global vaccination tracker:  https://graphics.reuters.com/world-coronavirus-tracker-and-maps/vaccination-rollout-and-access/)
    

    <^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
 Rise in cases for major Indian cities     https://tmsnrt.rs/2T2419j
Case load by state    https://tmsnrt.rs/3rVNaUS
Daily deaths by state       https://tmsnrt.rs/3rQMrnA
    ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^>
 (Reporting by Rama Venkat in Bengaluru; Editing by Clarence
Fernandez)
 ((ramavenkat.raman@thomsonreuters.com; https://twitter.com/ramavenkat0607;))