The coronavirus death toll in India has topped 100,000 seven months since the first batch of virus cases emerged in one of the world’s most populous countries. As reported by Indian media, India has become the third country in the world to surge past the grim milestone. Only the United States with 212,000 deaths and Brazil with 144,000 dead have reported more fatalities. In terms of infections, India has recorded 6.47 million cases and is now on its way to overtake the US in the coming weeks as the country with the most infections. Its 1.3 billion population, which is around four times larger than that of the United States, has seen more than twice as many deaths, raising doubts about India's official numbers. "We do not know the reliability of death rates in India," virologist T. Jacob John told AFP. "India does not have a public health surveillance system documenting real-time disease events and deaths," he said. Even though India is carrying out around one million tests per day, as a percentage of the population its testing rate is much lower as compared to many other countries across the world. According to a report published in the Hindustan Times, since the first week of September, daily deaths in India have been outstripping those in any country in the world. “On average, 1,065 people have died every day over the past week in the country, against 755 average daily deaths in the US and 713 in Brazil in the same period,” read the publication.
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