When The Whole World was Witnessing COVID-Crisis…A New Chapter Began

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic has extended its prongs across the globe, leading to extensive mortality and morbidity.There have been 148,532 tests, 7,862 diagnosed cases, and 112 deaths for a million population in India, by mid-February 2021[1]. Despite strict monitoring, several challenges exist in the ground level, which may influence the statistics of COVID-19 related morbidity and mortality. As testing is recommended for symptomatic individuals and those who have history of contact with COVID-19 cases, asymptomatic individuals with no obvious history of contact with COVID-19 cases, are not investigated. It is difficult to estimate this number, unless every individual in the community is investigated for COVID-19. People with mild to moderate symptoms in remote places do not reach for investigation due to fear of being diagnosed with COVID-19, stigma, and unawareness. On the other hand, deaths due to suicide, severe medical morbidity in COVID-19 patients give a false impression of COVID-19 mortality. This makes the missing data of uninvestigated persons who were either infected with COVID-19 or died, more elusive.