India contributes nearly half of COVID cases to global pandemic: WHO

Forty-two per cent of Covid-19 cases and one out of every four deaths due to the virus reported globally for the past week are from India, the World Health Organisation (WHO) says.

As the second wave is flaring across the country, it reports daily over three lakhs of fresh cases on an average for the past two weeks. The world witnessed more than 5.7 million new cases for the second successive week and 93,000 deaths. 2.6 million out of this is India's contribution which is a 20 per cent increase compared to the previous week. Also, the country reported 23,231 this week.

Out of the 20.6 million cases reported in the country since the beginning of the pandemic, 8.6 million (over 42 per cent) were added between March 29th to May 5th, which is a very short interval. Also, 64,636 deaths were reported, which is over 28 per cent of total fatalities reported since the pandemic broke out.

Currently, the pilings up positive cases include those from a more contagious variant of the virus that is not even detected in tests at times.

The organisation says that Southeast Asia is witnessing a marked increase in positive cases and fatalities. In the region, India accounts for over 90 per cent in both positive cases and deaths. According to WHO, Nepal has recorded a 137 per cent increase while Sri Lanka is also witnessing a growing number in positive cases.

What is more worrying is that WHO's data is based on India official numbers, and under-reporting of cases and fatalities are there in the country.