Bengaluru: A new study from the US has alleged that Karnataka has grossly under-reported Covid-19 cases within the state.
The study stating that 31 million people were infected with SARS Cov2 virus by August 29 was published in the February 4 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association.
It was conducted by researchers from the Duke University in collaboration with the Consumer Pyramids Household Survey, and it is based on 2, 912 households covering both urban and rural areas from five regions of the state. The research was also conducted along with the state government.
Participants in the study had taken Covid-19 tests for testing antibodies and active infection from June 15 to August 29. Researchers also claimed that the study was conducted with the support of the state government.
As per the state records, the number of Covid infection estimates has only climbed up to up to 3.3 lakh. Despite the vast difference in the numbers, a member of the Karnataka’s Covid-19 technical advisory committee, and epidemiologist, Dr R Giridhara Babu thinks that the study’s results and the state’s data are in line with each other.
He also added that infections and cases are two different things.
He said that labelling infections as cases is a gross mistake as in some districts =the case to infection ratio is 1:100. ” Had we tested everybody, all those who were infected would have tested positive, he told TOI.
Health Commissioner, Pankaj Pandey added that the study could not be trusted as the methodology employed was different from Indias’. He also pointed out that the Duke researchers have themselves accepted the limitations of their study.
