Over 5,500 dog bite cases a day in 2022, though lower than pre-Covid count

According to WHO estimates, 36% of global deaths by rabies happen in India, at 18,000-20,000 a year. About 30-60 per cent of dog bite cases and deaths occur in children aged under 15

An average of 5,739 cases of dog bites were reported daily as of November 2022, shows data. This is a decline in the number of such instances since the pandemic.

The average rises if one includes pre-pandemic figures. India reported nearly 16 million cases of stray dog bites between 2019 and 2022 (Parliament data till November 2022), an average of over 10,000 cases daily.

The annual number of cases reported has fallen from 7.3 million in 2019 to about two million as of November 2022.

India has about 15.3 million stray dogs roaming its streets, according to the 2019