Covid 19

WHO Says, โ€œIndia Has Max Covid Deaths,โ€ Government Replies Figure Is Totally Removed From Realityโ€

New Delhi: The World Health Organisationโ€™s use of mathematical model to calculate the number of Covid deaths has not been accepted by India. India has said that โ€œfigure is totally removed from realityโ€. India has cited that the country has an โ€œextremely robustโ€ system of births and deaths registration. Union health ministry, in its rebuttal, called the WHOโ€™s system of data collection โ€œstatistically unsound and scientifically questionableโ€.

In a report released Thursday, WHO said between January 2020 and December 2021, there were 4.7 million โ€œexcessโ€ Covid deaths in India. This is the maximum number thatโ€™s 10 times the official figures and almost a third of Covid deaths globally. The global figure, according to the report, was 15 million. The global figure is more than double the official figure of 6 million.

In 2020, India recorded 4,74,806 deaths as excess.

โ€œIndia has consistently questioned WHOโ€™s own admission that data in respect of seventeen Indian states was obtained from some websites and media reports and was used in their mathematical model,โ€ the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare said.

โ€œIndia has consistently questioned WHOโ€™s own admission that data in respect of seventeen Indian states was obtained from some websites and media reports and was used in their mathematical model,โ€ the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare said.

โ€œThis reflects a statistically unsound and scientifically questionable methodology of data collection for making excess mortality projections in case of India,โ€ the statement added. โ€œDespite Indiaโ€™s objection to the process, methodology and outcome of this modelling exercise, WHO has released the excess mortality estimates without adequately addressing Indiaโ€™s concerns,โ€ the ministry said.

โ€œThroughout the process of dialogue, engagement and communication with WHO, WHO has projected different excess mortality figures for India citing multiple models, which itself raises questions on the validity and robustness of the models used,โ€ the statement read.

Civil Registration System 2020 shared data with WHO for preparation of the excess mortality report. Citing the data the ministry said, โ€œDespite communicating this data to WHO for supporting their publication, WHO for reasons best known to them conveniently chose to ignore the available data submitted by India and published the excess mortality estimates for which the methodology, source of data, and the outcomes has been consistently questioned by Indiaโ€.

In its report WHO has stated that excess mortality is calculated as the difference between the number of deaths that have occurred and the number that would be expected in the absence of the pandemic based on data from earlier years.

โ€œExcess mortality includes deaths associated with COVID-19 directly (due to the disease) or indirectly (due to the pandemicโ€™s impact on health systems and society). Deaths linked indirectly to COVID-19 are attributable to other health conditions for which people were unable to access prevention and treatment because health systems were overburdened by the pandemic,โ€ the report read.

WHO also said they chose the mathematical model as many countries โ€œstill lack capacity for reliable mortality surveillance and therefore do not collect and generate the data needed to calculate excess mortalityโ€.

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