Coronavirus: India’s death toll passes quarter-million mark; scores of corpses found floating in Ganges

Name: Indian volunteers give respectful final farewell to abandoned bodies of Covid-19 victims
Uploaded: 2021-05-12T07:45:00.000Z
Duration: 1 min 57 s
Description: Indian volunteers give respectful final farewell to abandoned bodies of Covid-19 victims

Many experts believe the official numbers of people dying in India, which has one of the world’s poorest-funded health care systems, are an underestimate

A new tracker suggests the number of new infections has peaked – but PM Narendra Modi has still cancelled a planned in-person appearance at the G7

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The body of a person who died of Covid-19 is brought for cremation at an open crematorium on the outskirts of Bangalore in India on Wednesday. Photo: AP

Agencies

Published: 3:45pm, 12 May 2021Updated: 4:20pm, 12 May 2021

India’s coronavirus death toll surpassed 250,000 on Wednesday, official data showed, as the pandemic raged across the vast country of 1.3 billion people.

According to the health ministry, 4,205 people died in the past 24 hours – a new record – taking total fatalities to 254,197.

The number of cases rose almost 350,000 to 23.3 million, the second-highest after the United States.

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Indian volunteers give respectful final farewell to abandoned bodies of Covid-19 victims

While contagion is easing in major cities, the virus appears to be running unchecked in India’s vast rural hinterland where two-thirds of its people live.

Many experts believe the official numbers of people dying in India, which has one of the world’s poorest-funded health care systems, are an underestimate.

“Deaths are much higher than what our official data is revealing,” said Anant Bhan, an independent health policy and bioethics researcher.

More than 70 dead bodies found floating in Ganges

Scores of dead bodies have been found floating down the Ganges River in eastern India as the country battles a ferocious surge in coronavirus infections. Authorities said on Tuesday they had not yet determined the cause of death.