New Delhi: The second wave of Corona has hit India real bad. The numbers are certainly horrifying as backed by World Health Organization Chief Scientist Soumya Swaminathan. On Monday, she said that the numbers and figures related to Covid in India are ‘worrying’. She also pointed out that the government should boost exercises to report the actual numbers.
Swaminathan gave an exclusive interview to ANI in which she stated that the projections done by the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME) of about one million deaths by August are only based on models and available data and can be changed.
She said, “I would say that at this point of time, the situation is very worrying, the daily number of cases and deaths that we are seeing today in India and other countries in the Southeast area region is a big concern for us and we also realise that these are underestimates. Every country in the world, in fact, the number of cases and deaths has been underestimated to its true number.”
She further added, “It should be done and we should be aware because the better the data, the better the policies can be directed towards what is happening. Let's remember, people are not just dying of Covid, people are also dying of other illnesses for which they are not able to access healthcare.”
Swaminathan also laid stress on the importance of transparency of data and the need to continuously update Corona policies on the basis of science and data.