WHO chief scientist says India's COVID-19 figures worrying; calls to report actual numbers
India TV NewsAs India is in the grasp of a devastating second wave of COVID-19, World Health Organisation Chief Scientist Soumya Swaminathan on Monday termed the rate of infections and deaths in the country as "worrying" and called on governments to boost exercises on reporting actual numbers. Every country in the world, in fact, the number of cases and deaths has been underestimated to its true number," she said, adding that governments should boost exercises to report actual numbers. The B.1.617 variant is the fourth variant to be designated as being of "global concern" and requiring heightened tracking and analysis and data collection must be done in a transparent way, the Chief Scientist added. Earlier today, WHO director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said that the WHO Foundation was launching a "Together for India" appeal to raise funds to purchase oxygen, medicines and protective equipment for health workers.