Covid-19 crisis grows as India’s death toll rises

NEW DELHI: India’s coronavirus death toll passed 250 000 yesterday but comparisons of official data with those from people on the frontlines suggested the true number is several times higher.

The devastating Covid-19 wave has overwhelmed hospitals with patients and crematoriums with bodies, and many coronavirus deaths are not being properly recorded as such.

Experts say the official quartermillion death count is hugely underreported.

“Even three to four times would be an underestimate,” Anant Bhan, an independent health policy and bioethics researcher, told AFP.

Harrowing images from overwhelmed crematoriums and makeshift funeral pyres highlighted the scale of the crisis.