India world’s 3rd country to record 5 lakh Covid deaths

NEW DELHI: India became the third country in the world to officially record more than 5 lakh deaths from the Covid-19 pandemic, reaching the grim milestone on Thursday.

Only the US, with over 9.1 lakh Covid fatalities, and Brazil (nearly 6.3 lakh) have reported more deaths from the virus so far. At 3.3 lakh, the toll from the pandemic in Russia is the fourth highest, ahead of Mexico, which has so far logged just over 3.07 deaths.

India's death toll went past the 5-lakh mark 217 days after crossing 4 lakh on July 1, 2020. This was the longest time taken for a 1-lakh increase in fatalities, indicating a decrease in deaths in the months after the peak of the devastating second wave. This was also a period when vaccinations rose steadily in the country, which helped protect lives.

Daily deaths kept dipping till the end of December, after which mortalities associated with the Omicron-driven third wave have been rising. From a low of 70 on January 3, 2022, the seven-day average of daily deaths crossed 600 on Thursday (to 608). However, compared with the peaks of over 4,000 during the second wave and 1,176 in the first, the seven-day average of deaths in the third wave remains far lower so far.

While daily fatalities are yet to peak in the current surge, the death rate during the third wave so far is 0.16% as compared to 1.36% in the second wave and 1.42% in the first.

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However, the actual Covid toll in the country since the beginning of the pandemic is estimated to be much higher than the deaths recorded so far. Several international studies based on various methods that include mathematical modelling, sero surveys, death registration data from several states and CMIE's household surveys suggest India suffered the highest Covid deaths in the world.



Meanwhile, India recorded 1,49,190 fresh cases on Thursday, down from 1,72,931 on the previous day, as infections continued to decline across most states. This was the first time since January 7 that daily cases had dropped below the 1.5-lakh mark.

Cases in Kerala too dipped from 52,199 on Wednesday to 42,677. Mizoram, the other state where cases were continuing to rise, also logged a slight decrease on Thursday to 2,145, from 2,573 on the previous day.

Deaths remained above 600 for the third day running, with 621 fatalities recorded on Thursday. This figure doesn't include deaths from earlier periods recorded on the day but takes into account fatalities in the past few days in Kerala.