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It's because they don't test as much and they are not eager to mark deaths as covid-19.

by erfgh 6y ago

quantummkv 6y ago
This frankly stupid meme needs to die. Not testing can hide the disaster only for a maximum of 3 weeks, after which the dead start piling up. Considering that the dead have not being piling up anywhere in India, I'd say India has succeeded in managing it all.
- bufferoverflow 6y ago
  It's easy to hide the number of deaths too. How often does an average person actually see a dead person? Almost never. Whoever controls the narrative, decides on what numbers to report.
  - quantummkv 6y ago
    Despite what some sections of the internet might want to portray or believe, India is not a totalitarian state in the vein of China or Vietnam that can effectively censor speech on an almost watertight level. There is no Great Firewall here that can filter internet traffic in real time that such a large scale narrative control requires. And even China with the great firewall was not able to hold this in completely. Do you think the government would have been able to hide the large number of deaths that would have occurred, if the death rate was the same as reported by Europeans and Americans? It's not easy to hide a large amount of bodies, given that half of the country is ruled by political outfits that oppose the central government. The dead bodies in real life don't just vanish into thin air like in star wars.
    - bufferoverflow 6y ago
      You painting Indian government as this corruption-free bastion is cute. All it takes is a bunch of local government heads to look better than the other regions, and there you go - they report fake numbers. Or it can be worse, they pretend to do N tests, while paying for 1% of N tests, and faking the rest, putting the difference in their pocket.
captain_price7 6y ago
None of the countries who tried to hide it really succeeded, like Iran or China. There is no reason to believe governments of India or Bangladesh are more competent in this coverup business than those experts. I'm a Bangladeshi and I don't trust my government a singe bit. Still, I believe that while these numbers may not be exact, they are not wildly off the mark either.
- erfgh 6y ago
  It's not a coverup, they just don't care that much.
callmeal 6y ago
Your privilege is showing. If you check up a little on the news, it's actually the other way around. Any death (even accidental) is treated as if it was due to covid. Any infections discovered are treated they way they should be: a public health emergency. https://indianexpress.com/article/cities/mumbai/bmc-issues-revised-rules-for-sealing-buildings-after-person-tests-positive-in-a-society-6417085/ https://indianexpress.com/article/cities/mumbai/bmc-issues-r...
- kranner 6y ago
  Undercounting of Covid-19 deaths in India is enough of a concern that ICMR (India's state organisation for biomedical research) is/was planning to undertake a massive survey on excess deaths to determine if people were dying outside hospitals. The issue is not settled at all. https://www.newindianexpress.com/thesundaystandard/2020/may/24/icmr-to-study-if-covid-19-deaths-across-india-exceed-data-2147183.html https://www.newindianexpress.com/thesundaystandard/2020/may/...
- sethammons 6y ago
  > Your privilege is showing I’m not following. Can you explain?
  - callmeal 6y ago
    The original comment came across as dismissive of India because it's a third world country and therefore cannot be better at anything.
lenkite 6y ago
The latter half of your sentence is incorrect. I agree we can still do more testing.

It's because they don't test as much and they are not eager to mark deaths as covid-19.

by erfgh 6y ago

It's because they don't test as much and they are not eager to mark deaths as covid-19.

This frankly stupid meme needs to die. Not testing can hide the disaster only for a maximum of 3 weeks, after which the dead start piling up. Considering that the dead have not being piling up anywhere in India, I'd say India has succeeded in managing it all.

bufferoverflow 6y ago
It's easy to hide the number of deaths too. How often does an average person actually see a dead person? Almost never. Whoever controls the narrative, decides on what numbers to report.
- quantummkv 6y ago
  Despite what some sections of the internet might want to portray or believe, India is not a totalitarian state in the vein of China or Vietnam that can effectively censor speech on an almost watertight level. There is no Great Firewall here that can filter internet traffic in real time that such a large scale narrative control requires. And even China with the great firewall was not able to hold this in completely. Do you think the government would have been able to hide the large number of deaths that would have occurred, if the death rate was the same as reported by Europeans and Americans? It's not easy to hide a large amount of bodies, given that half of the country is ruled by political outfits that oppose the central government. The dead bodies in real life don't just vanish into thin air like in star wars.
  - bufferoverflow 6y ago
    You painting Indian government as this corruption-free bastion is cute. All it takes is a bunch of local government heads to look better than the other regions, and there you go - they report fake numbers. Or it can be worse, they pretend to do N tests, while paying for 1% of N tests, and faking the rest, putting the difference in their pocket.

captain_price7 6y ago

None of the countries who tried to hide it really succeeded, like Iran or China. There is no reason to believe governments of India or Bangladesh are more competent in this coverup business than those experts. I'm a Bangladeshi and I don't trust my government a singe bit. Still, I believe that while these numbers may not be exact, they are not wildly off the mark either.

erfgh 6y ago
It's not a coverup, they just don't care that much.

callmeal 6y ago

Your privilege is showing. If you check up a little on the news, it's actually the other way around. Any death (even accidental) is treated as if it was due to covid. Any infections discovered are treated they way they should be: a public health emergency. https://indianexpress.com/article/cities/mumbai/bmc-issues-revised-rules-for-sealing-buildings-after-person-tests-positive-in-a-society-6417085/ https://indianexpress.com/article/cities/mumbai/bmc-issues-r...

kranner 6y ago
Undercounting of Covid-19 deaths in India is enough of a concern that ICMR (India's state organisation for biomedical research) is/was planning to undertake a massive survey on excess deaths to determine if people were dying outside hospitals. The issue is not settled at all. https://www.newindianexpress.com/thesundaystandard/2020/may/24/icmr-to-study-if-covid-19-deaths-across-india-exceed-data-2147183.html https://www.newindianexpress.com/thesundaystandard/2020/may/...
sethammons 6y ago
> Your privilege is showing I’m not following. Can you explain?
- callmeal 6y ago
  The original comment came across as dismissive of India because it's a third world country and therefore cannot be better at anything.

lenkite 6y ago

The latter half of your sentence is incorrect. I agree we can still do more testing.