Video / AP / World VisionMridula Narayan paints a vivid picture of the humanitarian crisis in India as the COVID-19 pandemic grows. India's official count of coronavirus cases surpassed 20 million today, nearly doubling in the past three months, while deaths officially have passed 220,000. India's top health official, Rajesh Bhushan, refused to speculate last month as to why authorities weren't better prepared. On Tuesday, the health ministry reported 357,229 new cases in the past 24 hours and 3449 deaths from Covid. For example, government guidelines ask Indian states to include suspected Covid-19 cases when recording deaths from the outbreak, but many do not.

Source: New Zealand Herald May 04, 2021 05:24 UTC