bengaluru neglect of diseases like tb and cholera during the lockdown may cancel out lives potentially saved by the covid19induced enforcement measure says a public health expertprofessor indian institute of public health hyderabad public health foundation of india v ramana dhara said one has to consider the invisible loss of life from the increase in povertyrelated diseases like tb malnutrition and cholera which can be neglected while the lockdowns are ongoingthe deaths resulting from these diseases may well cancel out the lives potentially saved by the lockdowns one should view this epidemic as mother natures reaction to the rampant ecological damage caused by humans resulting in animal habitat loss and resultant contact between humans and animals he told pti in an interview on sundayon his assessment of the covid19 situation in india he noted that clearly the number of cases as on saturday of 125000 has exceeded the predicted 100000 by mayend and is continuing to rapidly rise while the case fatality rate is holding steady overall mortality is more important but there may be an undercount if some deaths may not be tested for covid19