Death Toll in India’s Covid19 Pandemic
The COVID-19 epidemic in India is out of control.
The number of confirmed cases hit a new high of 200,000 on a single day.
The death toll continues to increase and the medical system is close to collapse.
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However, while India has the third-highest number of cases in the world, it had the eighth-highest death toll, according to statistics from Johns Hopkins University.
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When the United States had more than 9.5 million cases and India had more than 8.2 million, India’s death rate was lower than 2%, which surprised many scientists.
Some of them would think that the poorness of India's public health facilities had lead to a surge in immunity.
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One research paper that studied the issue of COVID-19 death rate, and it studied data from 106 countries around the world, involving more than 20 parameters, including population density, demography, disease prevalence and health quality.
"People in poor, low-income countries appear to have higher immunity to the disease than their higher-income peers," said Dr. Bal Chander, one of the study's authors.
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Another paper studied epidemic data from 122 countries, 80 of which were middle- and high-income countries.
The results pointed out that the death rate of Covid19 is lower in countries with larger populations because these countries (people) are exposed to a wide variety of microorganisms.
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Regarding the statistics showing lower death rate, however, some experts say that number is likely a gross underestimate because suspected cases are often not included and many deaths are attributed to underlying illnesses, in India.
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Some other experts point out that deaths from COVID-19, especially among older people, are not included in official statistics and that testing outside the capital of India is limited.
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A research report on the deaths caused by Covid19 in South Asian countries said that the death toll may be 10 times the official figure.
The report pointed out that while most experts believe that India’s official death toll is a vast underestimate, the Indian government still insists that these are exaggerated and misleading speculation.
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Warning: these questons and answers are not all representative of the way questions will be asked and answered in the pilot, because some questions are compound and some answers do not include citations.

Q: Is Covid19 serious in India?
A: Yes, it is out of control.

Q: What have the daily infection cases come up to in India?
A: 200,000.

Q: Where is the statistics from?
A: Johns Hopkins University

Q: What is the Covid19 death rate in India as compared to the U.S.
A: Amot half the figure of the U.S.

Q: Is such a statistics expected?
A: No, it has surprised many scientists.

Q: What do scientists think about possible reasons for India’ low death rate?
A: Some would think that the poorness public health facilities had lead to a surge in immunity.

Q: Was there serious research done about this?
A: Yes, one research report suggests that people in poor, low-income countries appear to have higher immunity to the disease than their higher-income peers.

Q: Are there other factors that might have contributed to the lower death rate statistics?
A: Yes, many people believe that the figure is a vast underestimate.

Q: What may have caused the underestimate, if it exists?
A: Many suspected cases are often not included and many deaths are attributed to underlying illnesses.

Q: Is there an estimate about the scale of under estimation?
A: One research report mentioned 10 time.