On June 9, an Indian health education minister posted an infographic on Twitter showing COVID-19 infections and deaths in the city of Bangalore were running at about half the rate in New Zealand, a country acclaimed globally for reining in the disease.
The city — which has more than double the population of New Zealand — “stumps the Kiwis,” said the caption to the image posted by Sudhakar K., who is responsible for medical education in the southern state of Karnataka. Bangalore, officially known as Bengaluru, is the capital of the state.
His tweet was liked and retweeted by thousands. But the celebration was short-lived.