1 million Covid deaths by August: Lancet

New Delhi: India could see a staggering one million deaths from Covid-19 by August 1, according to an editorial in the British medical journal Lancet. If that outcome were to happen, it could be a big tragedy in the sub-continent, the top peer reviewed journal said on Friday. So far, 234,083 have died of Covid-19 in the country so far, according to Union health ministry data.

The Lancet editorial quoted the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation, an independent global health research organisation, in giving its projection for a million deaths

by August 1.

"India squandered its early successes in controlling Covid-19. Until April, the government's Covid-19 taskforce had not met in months," the Lancet editorial said.

The science journal said that India must now restructure its response while the crisis rages.