| Ground reality- * 400,000 new infections reported yesterday. Number of deaths is being suppressed- 10x more deaths than reported. Crematoriums everywhere are overflowing, yet only 3k deaths per day as per official record. * Basic resources like Oxygen, Meds (Favipiravir, Remdesivir, Monitors), Hospital beds keep running out in many cities and towns. Everything is on sale for 2-10x the official prices. For example, Remdesivir selling for Rs 20,000 ($300) instead of Rs 2,000. Ambulances charging Rs 25,000 for a half hour transport, instead of Rs 2,500. * Beds are a tragedy. People are dying in their cars (https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/noida/no-bed-in-4-n...). Day rent for beds in nursing home corridors (yes, actual narrow corridors) are selling for an amount equal to the average monthly salary of a middle class citizen. * The government organized election rallies and religious gatherings and overruled the concerns of many educated voices over the last 2 months. Lockdown in election bound states was only announced yesterday, once all rallies and multi-phase election was finished. Votes/Power over lives, that's the mantra. One head of state went as far as to pass an order declaring anyone posting stories of O2 shortage will be prosecuted and arrested. (https://www.telegraphindia.com/india/covid-up-hospitals-defy...) * People have stepped up as the govt has abdicated responsibility, sharing resources on their stories and working all day to verify their availability by calling hospitals and crematoriums. However the scale of the tragedy is immense and people who could have been saved are dropping like flies. This wave is affecting 40, 50 year olds, without any comorbidities. Apparently the strain is a double mutant (mutation of the strain from UK), and now a triple variant is also being reported. * EDIT- Also for the sake of PR, the central govt sent more than half the vaccine produced abroad. Apparently the concept of stockpiling and reserves isn't common knowledge with the Indian political elite. So today we are at a situation where we are importing the vaccines we had exported, as we are desperately short on stocks and there is no relief in sight. Only 1.9% of India's population has received 2 doses of the vaccine. Long story short, many people will die. |
10x death-undercount nationwide is probably not accurate. Major states like Maharashtra, Karnataka and Kerala are reporting close to accurate numbers. 2-5x nationwide is likely, with places like UP, West Bengal and Gujarat undercounting by 5-10x.