New Delhi, Jul 23 (IANS): An unprecedented 49 per cent of people believe that the coronavirus threat is hyperbolised, even as the number of confirmed cases in the country surged past 12 lakh on Thursday.

According to the IANS-CVoter Covid-19 Tracker with a sample size of 1,723, 49.3 per cent of people believe that the threat from the pathogen is exaggerated, while 41.2 per cent refute it. The poll was conducted on respondents from across the country between March 16 and July 22.

Interestingly, the day when the first lockdown was imposed, a lot more people felt the situation was exaggerated. On March 23, 53.4 per cent people thought the threat was over-amplified, while a mere 33.1 per cent believed it was grave.

Ten days after the country was put behind the doors, the number of people who believed in the gravity of the situation started increasing. On June 1, when the country was flung open as part of ‘Unlock 1.0', the percentage stood at 53.1 per cent.

Meanwhile, on the first day of ‘Unlock 2.0', which is still in the play, the percentage of such people came down a notch, at 48 per cent. On July 22, however, the percentage plummeted to 41.2 per cent.

Even though, the graph of people who believed that the situation was more overstated than the reality was at its peak at the start of the lockdown, it crashed down on May 9, and shot up again on and after June 8.

The data holds importance at a time the country is facing the wrath of the deadly virus, which has claimed over 30,000 lives and infected as many as 12 lakh Indians. India has also logged the world's third-largest case load, after the US and Brazil.