The Indian Council of Medical Research believes, on the basis of its seroprevalence survey done in May-June, that 40 per cent of the Indian population is already exposed to the COVID-19.
Adding there are 80-130 missed cases of coronavirus infection.
According to a report by Deccan Chronicle, there are 372.8 million cases in India contrary to the official figure of 46.6 million.
These are the results of India’s first nationwide study of coronavirus infections. The study dates back to the May-June period when the pandemic was a gathering storm.
These missing cases include asymptomatic, mild or severe cases and deaths due to COVID-19.
In contrast, the US is estimated to have 10 missed cases for every one confirmed case.
The report further adds that the Indian Council of Medical Research cases were missed because tested only those who had symptoms of severe and acute respiratory infection were tested.
There is also a large variation in the testing methodology used by the states. Tests were carried out only on those people who showed symptoms and their contacts but community testing was not carried out which would have given a more accurate picture of the spread.
The missed cases mean that India missed a lot of COVID-19 deaths too. The ICMR findings show that mortality data is incomplete as many deaths were not attributed to Covid-19.
These findings have been published in the Indian Journal of Medical Research.
Throwing back to May, the study found that there were a cumulative 64,68,388 infections