India’s daily COVID-19 additions crossed the 11,000 mark on Wednesday, even as daily deaths set a new record at 357.
The total detected cases of Coronavirus 2019 in India has now risen to 2.87 lakh, up by 11,156 in 24 hours, while the number of deaths has now reached 8,107.
The above numbers, taken from crowd-sourced platform Covid19India.Org, are still lower than those from another similar platform, WorldoMeters, which puts the tally for Wednesday at 12,375 (see chart on top).
WorldoMeters also puts the daily deaths higher at 388.
The difference is owing to the way the daily data is calculated, especially the time period used.
Official Indian government data, which refers to a 24-hour period from one afternoon to another, is also made available during the second half of the day.
Despite India reporting the third highest rate of new Coronavirus infections in the world, the country is placed at fourth place when it comes to daily deaths reported due to the infection.
This is because, Mexico, whose daily new COVID-19 cases is only 35% that of India, reported higher deaths at 596 compared to 388 for India, according to WorldOMeter.
However, it should be noted that the numbers vary based on the method of counting, including whether or not people who die before they reach the hospital are subjected to postmortem (after death) testing or not. Many states, including in India, have stopped testing dead bodies to preserve testing kits.
There have also been media reports that the official death numbers is certain high-infection states in India are well below those collected from hospitals.
COMMUNITY SPREAD?
The rising number of cases in Delhi and Tamil Nadu has raised the specter of community spread, a situation in which health authorities are no longer able to trace and track the source of infections.
According to Delhi deputy health minister Manish Sisodia, about half the cases reported in Delhi have no clear sources.
However, the central government has so far maintained that there is no community spread of COVID-19 in India, remarkable for a country that is likely the No.4 in the world as far as total cases are concerned.
On the other hand, some states like Delhi have cut down on testing in recent days, but the number of detected cases continue to rise even under reduced testing.
Tamil Nadu, one of the states that does not seem to have given up hope and continues to test and quarantine infected people aggressively, has seen its daily COVID-19 tally go up from around 1,100 around a week ago to 1,927 as of Wednesday.
The state tested 17,675 people on Wednesday, indicating a positive ratio of 11%. Delhi, on the other hand, tested 5,077 cases, out of which a whopping 30%, or 1,501 people, were COVID-19 positive.
Other states that are reporting higher — but still modest — daily COVID-19 numbers are Uttar Pradesh (275), Rajasthan (355), Gujarat (510), Bihar 243), West Bengal (343), Assam (235), Haryana (370) and Andhra Pradesh (365).
Meanwhile, media reports revealed that hundreds of COVID-19 deaths in Tamil Nadu may not be getting reported in the official updates, prompting an investigation by state authorities.