"COVID-19 Hugely Under Diagnosed In India": Dr Eric Feigl-Ding | BOOM | Govindraj Ethiraj
- 3 years ago
At over 3,50,000 COVID-19 cases per day, India is on a precipice. What are we learning about this disease and what can we do to bring some normalcy back without slipping into a third wave?
Dr. Eric Feigl-Ding, Epidemiologist, Senior Fellow, Federation of American Scientists, Washington DC, says that the problem India has that there is huge under diagnosis due to lack of testing and it shows in the positivity rate. Places like Kolkata are at 50% positivity rate. We don't have a good grasp of how many active cases are there, testing is not exponentially increasing like the virus is. Some estimates say India is under accounting by 10x but a latest estimate by Institute of Health Metrics and Evaluation in Washington DC says there is 58x under diagnosis. Cases will hopefully start decreasing soon but mortality will keep increasing for the next two weeks and then slowly come down, but not as quickly as needed. IMHE predicts that there will be a million COVID-19 deaths in India by August 2021.
He also says that if you have enough testing, you can use it as a tool to slow down or stop transmission. Without ramped up testing, we are driving in the middle of a pandemic at midnight with no headlights. We don't know either how many cases are there, nor do we know the true extent of deaths.
Watch BOOM's Govindraj Ethiraj speak with Dr. Eric Feigl-Ding on a possible third wave of COVID-19 in India, need for ramped up COVID-19 testing and vaccination, and common sense public health measures that can keep us safe from infection or reinfection.
Dr. Eric Feigl-Ding, Epidemiologist, Senior Fellow, Federation of American Scientists, Washington DC, says that the problem India has that there is huge under diagnosis due to lack of testing and it shows in the positivity rate. Places like Kolkata are at 50% positivity rate. We don't have a good grasp of how many active cases are there, testing is not exponentially increasing like the virus is. Some estimates say India is under accounting by 10x but a latest estimate by Institute of Health Metrics and Evaluation in Washington DC says there is 58x under diagnosis. Cases will hopefully start decreasing soon but mortality will keep increasing for the next two weeks and then slowly come down, but not as quickly as needed. IMHE predicts that there will be a million COVID-19 deaths in India by August 2021.
He also says that if you have enough testing, you can use it as a tool to slow down or stop transmission. Without ramped up testing, we are driving in the middle of a pandemic at midnight with no headlights. We don't know either how many cases are there, nor do we know the true extent of deaths.
Watch BOOM's Govindraj Ethiraj speak with Dr. Eric Feigl-Ding on a possible third wave of COVID-19 in India, need for ramped up COVID-19 testing and vaccination, and common sense public health measures that can keep us safe from infection or reinfection.