NEW DELHI: The Indian state of Bihar has increased its COVID-19 death toll after the discovery of thousands of unreported cases, raising concerns that many more fatalities were not officially recorded.
The health department in Bihar, one of the poorest states, on Thursday revised its COVID-19 fatality count to more than 9,429 from 5,424 – a jump of more than 70 percent.
Officials said the 3,951 unreported fatalities had occurred in May and reflect “deaths reported at private hospitals, in transit to health facilities, under home isolation and those dying of post COVID-19 complications.”
Health experts say many COVID-19 fatalities remain unrecorded in India, more so during the latest surge in April and May, when hospitals ran unbearably full and oxygen supplies were low.
India’s federal ministers from the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party have dismissed reports of undercounting as exaggerated and misleading. In the past, states like Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu have also recalibrated death numbers.
Overall, India’s cases and deaths have fallen steadily in the past weeks.
The 91,702 cases added in the past 24 hours pushed India’s total to more than 29.3 million on Friday, second only to the United States. The Health Ministry also reported 3,403 fatalities in the past 24 hours, raising the overall death toll to 363,079.
India’s Bihar state revises COVID-19 death count, up by 70 percent
https://arab.news/yz6j4
India’s Bihar state revises COVID-19 death count, up by 70 percent
- Officials says that 3,951 unreported fatalities had occurred in May
- Overall, India’s cases and deaths have fallen steadily in the past weeks
China warns US ‘plotting’ on Taiwan could lead to ‘confrontation’
- Foreign Minister Wang said that any future “instigating and plotting to split China through Taiwan, crossing China’s red line”
MUNICH: Beijing’s top diplomat Wang Yi warned the United States on Saturday against “plotting” on Taiwan, saying it could lead to a “confrontation” with China.
Speaking at the Munich Security Conference in Germany, Foreign Minister Wang said that any future “instigating and plotting to split China through Taiwan, crossing China’s red line.”
“This could very likely lead to a confrontation between China and the United States,” he said.
He added that he hoped Washington would pursue a “positive and pragmatic” approach, “but we are also prepared to deal with various risks.”
China claims self-ruled Taiwan as its own territory and has not ruled out the use of force to bring under its control.
The United States has long been the democratic island’s most important backer and biggest arms provider, and Taiwan would be heavily reliant on US support in a potential conflict with China.
