On April 30, West Bengal announced that 105 COVID-19 positive patients had died, but did not count 72 of them as they died due to comorbidities.

On May 18, the Delhi government asked its hospitals not to take samples of dead people to test for COVID-19. Also, while the Delhi government’s official COVID-19 death toll was 68 until May 8, the number of such deaths in just two hospitals in the city was 107.

The disturbing visuals of 108 dead bodies at LNJP hospital mortuary from last week which could not be accommodated as per its present capacity.

These COVID-19-specific stories along with the fact that India medically certifies only 22% of deaths (as of 2017) suggest that India may be undercounting its dead.

Below is an overview showing fast changing leading cause of GLOBAL deaths. Reference: EuroMOMO, Johns Hopkins University's coronavirus tracker.

Time to critically review the only 'consolation' India has till now with respect to COVID-19.