Centre: Foreign report on India's COVID deaths fallacious; shows numbers 7-8 times higher

As India continues to grapple with the pandemic, the Government of India on Tuesday said that it has been transparent in its approach to COVID-19 data management. Stating that a robust system of recording all COVID-19-related deaths already exists, the Centre in its release said that all States and Union Territories have been entrusted with the responsibility to update the data on a continuous basis. 

Centre: 'Missing out on COVID deaths unlikely'

Highlighting that there have been media reports alleging that at least 2.7 to 3.3 million COVID-19 deaths happened during the two waves of COVID-19 in India, the Centre said that CRS has been implemented in India for decades and due to this, missing out on COVID-19 deaths is unlikely. 

The release read, "The report further concludes that India's COVID-19 death rate may be about 7-8 times higher than the officially reported toll and claims that most of these additional deaths are likely to have been due to COVID-19. Such misinformed reports are totally fallacious."

Giving out further details, the Government of India said that it has also been repeatedly advising States and UTs through formal communications, multiple video conferences through the deployment of Central teams for the recording of deaths in accordance with guidelines laid down. States have been advised to conduct thorough audits in their hospitals and report any cases or deaths that could have been missed with a district and data-wise details so as to guide a data-driven decision-making, it added. 

Remarking that to avoid inconsistency or confusion in the number of deaths being reported, the release said that the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) in May 2020, had issued 'Guidance for the appropriate recording of COVID-19 related deaths in all States and Union Territories. 

Read the full release here:

COVID-19 situation in India

India has so far recorded over 3,14,40,951 positive cases, out of which, 3,06,21,469 have successfully recovered and 4,21,382 have died. As per the latest reports from MoHFW, in the past 24 hours, 29,689 new cases, 42,363 fresh recoveries and 415 deaths have been reported. Currently, the total number of active cases in the country is 3,98,100. 

As far as the vaccination tally of the country is concerned, over 44,01,61,492 COVID vaccine doses have been administered. Out of 44,01,61,492 COVID vaccine doses, 34,51,63,848 are the first dose and 9,49,97,644 are the second dose. 

(Image: PTI, ANI, Pixabay)