The official COVID death toll in India exceeds 500,000

India’s official death toll from COVID-19 crossed 500,000 on Friday, a level many health experts say was breached last year but obscured by inaccurate surveys and unaccounted dead in the hinterlands, where millions remain vulnerable to the disease.

The country, which has the fourth-highest tally of deaths globally, recorded 400,000 deaths by July 2021 after the devastating outbreak from the Delta variant of the coronavirus, according to official data.

According to official figures, India’s overall number of COVID infections has reached 41.95 million, the second-highest globally behind the United States.

The number of claims received is nearly ten times the official COVID-19 death toll of 10,545, as per government data.