Covid toll crosses 10,000 as death rate doubles in June

The country recorded 363 deaths in the previous 24 hours, taking the overall death toll to 10,032, as the death rate doubled in June in comparison to the previous month.

India recorded 4,213 coronavirus deaths in May at an average of 136 deaths per day, while June has seen 4,037 deaths so far, with an average of 270 deaths per day till Tuesday.

India has now climbed to eighth position in terms of global coronavirus deaths. The country is already at the fourth spot in terms of the number of positive cases at 348,097, according to a Johns Hopkins live dashboard.

“As the number of cases rise, deaths will also rise as a proportion of the cases,” said K. Srinath Reddy, president, Public Health Foundation of India (PHFI), a public-private partnership to improve public health.

“If we can control the spread of the disease, especially in the high-intensity urban areas, the rise in death rate can also be expected to slow down. All public health measures need to be implemented vigorously to achieve this. At this stage, citizen participation in control strategies at the local ward and village level is crucial,” said Reddy, also a member of the Union government’s National Task Force on Covid-19.