The number 360,960 looks frighteningly large. It’s the headline-grabbing number of new confirmed cases of covid-19 in India on 22nd April 2021. It was thus reported in The Guardian, a UK newspaper. as “a world record for any single country since the pandemic began”. By the time you read this the daily total may even be over 400,000 but that doesn’t significantly change the comparison we make below.
These sensational headlines are as dramatic as they are dishonest: They convey the false idea that India’s a basket case when it comes to daily covid figures getting out of control.
But let’s look more closely. On 9th January 2021 the United Kingdom reached a peak of 89.3 new daily cases per 100 thousand. The corresponding figure in India on 22nd April was 26.4 (or 29.3 if you use the 400K figure). In either case the comparable daily rate in the UK was over 3 times worse than India’s, and England’s alone was even higher. Since the population of India is over 20 times greater than the UK’s, it’s hardly surprising that the country clocks up an alarmingly huge grand total even when it’s doing quite well on a daily basis compared with other countries.
The more honest headline might have been: “India’s medical infrastructure struggles to cope with a comparatively modest daily rate of covid-19 cases.” and this similarly serious but less eye-catching observation should also raise no eyebrows given how poor India is in per capita terms. Unfortunately the sober truth doesn’t keep the presses rolling and the anchors watched.
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