Coronavirus cases surge in India as half of slums' population test positive
Residents of a slum area walk along a sewage canal after water levels increased following a monsoon rainfall in New Delhi on July 21, 2020.
Coronavirus infections in India passed 1.5 million and deaths neared 35,000 yesterday, but test results in Mumbai cast further doubt on official data in the second-most populous nation worldwide.
Even as case numbers soar and more areas impose lockdowns, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said India was in a “better position than other countries,” and winning international praise.
The health ministry website — which no longer includes total infections — yesterday reported almost 50,000 new cases and 768 deaths.
The South Asian giant, home to some of the world’s most crowded cities and where health care spending per capita is among the world’s lowest, passed 1 million cases only 12 days ago.
But many experts say India is not testing enough people, and many coronavirus-linked deaths are not being recorded as such.
A study released on Tuesday said 57 percent of people in Mumbai’s teeming slums have had the infection, far more than official data suggests.
