WHO claims 4.7 million Covid deaths In India as New Delhi rejects report

The World Health Organisation on Thursday said that around 4.7 million deaths, directly or indirectly, are attributable to COVID-19 in India between 2020 and 2021. These are the highest, by far, for any country and comprise nearly a third of the 15 million such deaths globally. India officially estimated only 4.8 lakh cumulative deaths linked to COVID-19 as of December 2021, which implies that the WHO estimate is nearly 10 times the government count.




“These sobering data not only point to the impact of the pandemic but also to the need for all countries to invest in more resilient health systems that can sustain essential health services during crises, including stronger health information systems,” said Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO Director-General.

India, however, has strongly objected to the mathematical models employed by the WHO for projecting excess mortality estimates linked to the coronavirus pandemic.

“Despite India’s objection to the process, methodology and outcome of this modelling exercise, WHO has released the excess mortality estimates without adequately addressing India’s concerns,” the government said in a statement.

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India’s Covid Working Group chief Dr NK Arora also lambasted the rport saying the report of 4.7 million “excess” Covid deaths in India does not stand any “logic or fact”

Speaking with the NDTV, Mr Arora said that while there can be a 15-20% discrepancy, India’s robust and accurate death registration system (known as Civil Registration System, or CRS) ensures that a majority of virus-related deaths are covered.