As cases rise, experts worried India's true pandemic data is vastly undercounted

While cases rise exponentially in the country, many caution that the official data is most likely an undercount. But why is it accurate, that too even less than other countries' report?

While India is not counting every case, the truth is that no country is, or can. Official tallies only include confirmed cases. And since testing is haphazard, many are infected with the virus with mild or no symptoms. While the WHO has said countries should be doing 10-30 tests per confirmed case, the US is doing 17, Finland 57, and India 5 tests for every confirmed case.

According to an expert, the death rate is a better indicator of the shape of the pandemic, but there are problems there too. Many people suffer in rural areas without proper attention, and the deaths in these areas underreported. While counting deaths in rural areas is possible, it involves in-person surveys to capture 'verbal autopsies'.

The call for expanding testing is to understand the pandemic better. Governments can plan their response according to the size and scope of the outbreak. Even with the gaps in the data, the current numbers show India's cases rising at an alarming rate.