India, the Covid orphans: hundreds of children have lost both parents. Modi: “The state will pay for their education”

BANGKOK – The estimate of 577 Indian children orphaned of both parents by the Covid virus is causing a new social and health alarm in a continent where any official data is rendered unreliable by the scarcity of checks carried out. It happens after every great tragedy, but given India’s demographic proportions, the phenomenon could be far more extensive than it seems.