What could be the reason for India’s lower death rates due to Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19) as compared to other bigger countries. This has baffled many international researchers.
As on 28 April 2020, the Ministry of health and family welfare, Govt of India has reported 29,435 COVID-19 positive cases and 934 deaths.
The Reuters has reported that Central Mumbai, home to some 12 million people, saw the number of deaths fall by about 21% in March compared with the same month of 2019, according to municipal data. Overall deaths plummeted 67% in Ahmedabad.
Funeral businesses and crematoriums also reported slumps in business, especially in April.
What could be the reasons.
Less accidents
Indian doctors, officials and crematorium employees suspect a drop in the number of road and rail accidents is a major factor. Accidents on India’s chaotic roads killed more than 151,400 people in 2018, according to official data. India’s strict lockdown with vehicular restriction has ensured limited movement in the highways.
Less virulent strain of virus?
The BBC reports that some talk about the possibilities of the presence of a less virulent strain of the virus in India, along with the possibility that its hot weather was diminishing the contagion.
Both these claims are not backed by any evidence. In fact, doctors treating critical Covid-19 patients have told me that the contagion is as virulent here as has been reported elsewhere in the world.
Less crime
Neeraj Kumar, who is in charge of a crematorium on the banks of the Ganga in Uttar Pradesh, said victims of crime were also not being brought in. “We used to get at least 10 accident-related bodies every day and many related to murder cases. But after the lockdown we’re only receiving natural death cases,” Mr Kumar said.
The site used to perform up to 30 cremations a day but in the month since March 22, only 43 people had been cremated, Mr Kumar said after leafing through the crematorium’s record book.
Young population
Suggesting that a relatively young Indian population may be one of the reasons for the low mortality rate due to the pandemic, experts have attributed the high number of fatalities in countries like Italy and Spain to their elderly population which are more susceptible to developing complications after contracting the infection.
According to the data shared by the Union health ministry in early April, about 63% deaths have been reported among people aged 60 and above, 30% among people between 40 to 60 years and 7% among people below 40 years.
Global COVID-19 deaths have crossed 2,00,000.
