![]() ![]() ![]() In Bihar, a state of 123 million people, just half of all deaths are registered in a given year. India went into the pandemic with a death registration system that recorded only 92 of every 100 deaths. The case fatality rate is a flawed indicator to begin with-and only makes sense in a country that’s doing a half-decent job of counting its COVID-19 dead. For a long time now, it has been clear that India is not. The trouble is that the case fatality rate is a flawed indicator to begin with-and only makes sense in a country that’s doing a half-decent job of counting its COVID-19 dead. Even now, India’s rate is at 1.3 percent, against 1.79 percent in the United States and 2.74 percent in the United Kingdom. By the end of India’s second wave this April and May, the country’s case fatality rate stood at roughly 1.56 percent, against 2.86 percent in the United States and 9.14 percent in the United Kingdom, according to national data aggregated by Our World in Data. The datapoint at the heart of this contention has been the case fatality rate: the share of reported COVID-19 deaths proportionate to reported cases. This triumphalism was on display in Modi’s now infamous January 2021 speech to the World Economic Forum, in which he said that “India is among those countries which have succeeded in saving the lives of the maximum number of its citizens. Since the beginning of the pandemic, India’s ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government has sought to argue that India has handled the pandemic better than most any country, as evidenced by its low COVID-19 mortality rate. In a prepared statement delivered to the media after his visit, the minister’s main point was one that has been central to the Modi government’s messaging on COVID-19: While every death was sad, India had one of the lowest mortality rates in the world. ![]() In over a year of leading his country’s pandemic response, the minister has taken few questions from the media, much like his prime minister, Narendra Modi. That morning, India’s health minister, Harsh Vardhan, visited a hospital in the city. ![]() The capital of New Delhi was virtually out of space to cremate the COVID-19 dead-the bodies just kept coming in. It was one of the worst ever days of the country’s pandemic experience, just one week out from the peak of its deadly second wave. His team has had to forgo the exhaustive rituals Hindus believe release the soul from the cycle of rebirth.On April 29, India reported over 386,000 new cases of COVID-19 and over 3,500 deaths. Covid-19 victims are cremated at Seemapuri crematorium in New Delhi. “Day in and day out, we are surrounded by the smell of burning flesh, and the sounds of crying families,” Jeet said. Most don’t dare remove their masks for fear of getting infected. Team members limit their water breaks, even as temperatures soar to more than 107 degrees Fahrenheit. Together, the team builds funeral pyres, cremates the bodies, and then clears the area to start the process all over again. If we are to die, we will die.”ĭressed in protective gear, volunteers toil in the scorching heat, sometimes up to 20 hours a day, according to Jeet. “Of course we are scared, but it would be a letdown to our nation if we didn’t step up. “We are aware of the risk that comes with doing this work,” he said. He has, as a result, had to rely on other members of the public to help with the cremations.ĭownload the NBC News app for breaking news and politics Several senior volunteers in his group tested positive during the most recent wave, according to Jeet. Other religions, including Sikhism, Jainism and Buddhism, account for about 4 percent of the population and have a variety of funeral rites. Hindus are usually cremated, while Muslims and Christians traditionally opt for burials. Nearly 80 percent of India’s population is Hindu, according to the most recent census, about 14 percent Muslim, and just over 2 percent Christian. New Delhi’s main Muslim graveyard for victims of Covid-19 is also running out of space, resulting in some Muslims having to cremate their loved ones, Reuters reported. Parking lots in New Delhi are now also being converted to accommodate the rising number of bodies.Īnd it’s not just India’s crematoriums that are overwhelmed. While there are no official figures to demonstrate how many bodies have been cremated across the country, photos and video of smoldering funeral pyres in India’s makeshift crematoriums have come to symbolize the country’s Covid-19 crisis. Now, in the throes of a devastating second wave, it is conducting more than 120 cremations daily, he said. Then, the organization cremated about 10 bodies a day. ![]()
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