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WHO Is Wrong On Covid Death Count In India

By Our Editorial Team
First publised on 2022-05-06 03:07:04

About the Author

Sunil Garodia The India Commentary view

The World Health Organization (WHO) has dropped a bombshell. It has reported that there were three times more Covid deaths across the world than were reported. For India, the WHO figures are even more damning. It says that more than 47 lakh people died due to Covid in India while the official figure is just 4.8 lakh. This means that according to WHO India underreported 90% of deaths due to Covid. The Centre has strongly rejected the WHO report by saying that it lacked "academic rigour".

While there is no denying that the Covid deaths reported by India are not perfect (and they are not so for most other countries), the WHO figures also seem to be grossly exaggerated. In a country as large and chaotic as India, some Covid cases may have gone unreported. But the probability of such unreported cases being more than 10 percent is very low mainly because India has a robust death recording system down to the panchayat level and is now recording up to 92 percent of deaths every year. In fact, in most towns and cities, no bodies are allowed to be cremated or buried without producing a doctor's or hospital's death certificate providing cause of death based on which the municipal body records the death in the death register and issues a official death certificate.

Further, although there was stress on the cremation and burial grounds during the second wave and some bodies were also found floating in rivers during the second wave as relatives could not arrange for proper cremation or burial, they were not as overwhelming in numbers as the WHO report seems to suggest. If we look at the total infections and recovery rate, then also the WHO death figures do not add up. Also, if the WHO report is taken as correct, it undermines the historical deaths recorded in India every year and the figures for total deaths in 2020 and 2021 are grossly inflated if WHO figures are added. Finally, if so many people indeed died due to Covid in India, why are their relatives not coming forward to claim Covid compensation? Thus, it is safe to assume that while the government figures are not entirely correct, WHO's figures are also grossly exaggerated.

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