709: What Is the True Scale of COVID-19 Pandemic in India?

<div>How many people have died due to COVID-19 in India? The official figures as of Friday, 28 May, stand at 3,18,895 but a <em>New York Times </em>report has ruffled feathers by suggesting that this number grossly under-represents the true state of the pandemic in India.<br><br> </div><div>The report from Tuesday, 25 May, studied three national serosurveys conducted in India over the course of the pandemic. The first survey was conducted from 11 May to 3 June. The second from 18 August to 20 September and the last from 18 December to 6 January.<br><br>From those numbers which <em>NYT </em>deduced, almost half of India’s population, which is 68.32 crore people, may have contracted COVID in the past year, a number which is a far cry from the 27.5 crore that the Centre is reporting.<br><br> </div><div>The question of the total death count due to COVID has emerged again, as rural India is starting to show a spike in cases. Even as there is an enormous scarcity of medical resources, from hospital beds to oxygen to testing kits.<br><br> </div><div>If accurate data is scarce and difficult to access from metro cities, it is almost non-existent in rural India, where the situation is dire. So, do we have the true picture of India’s pandemic situation?<br><br><br><strong>Support The Quint's independent journalism. Become a member now: </strong><a href="https://www.youtube.com/redirect?event=video_description&amp;redir_token=QUFFLUhqbHVJMnF1b0hRdUlUX0xFdjJtYlFrYjgxTkcyQXxBQ3Jtc0tuVGU4bnNrMDVkcmN4WEd6dWNBVG9rSTI0a00wdEozQ01SVHVfT0NNSk1uTXBIVTFwdGV1R043RG9Fa1g2RnRCWGx4OWlkUDQ3RWV6QmJ3cTVTNVpGMGhhRkFZQTYxc2JYbVM4cWUwSmdTT3QwRlNmWQ&amp;q=https%3A%2F%2Fbit.ly%2F2KzaT9R">https://bit.ly/2KzaT9R</a><strong><br></strong><br><strong>References:<br></strong><a href="https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2021/05/25/world/asia/india-covid-death-estimates.html">New York Times: Just How Big Could India’s True Covid Toll Be?</a> </div><div><br></div><div><strong>Also Read:</strong></div><h1><a href="https://www.thequint.com/videos/ground-rep