India objects to NYT article on WHO, questions methodology after report claims 4 million Covid deaths

By Team Newsable | First Published Apr 17, 2022, 11:08 AM IST

The Ministry of Health and Family Welfare in a statement said that the same mathematical model cannot be used to calculate the Covid mortalities for a large country like India, geographically and population-wise, and for other countries with a smaller population.

India responded to New York Times article titled ‘India Is Stalling the WHO’s Efforts to Make Global Covid Death Toll Public’ and objected to the methodology used by the World Health Organization (WHO) for estimating the deaths caused by coronavirus disease (Covid-19) in the country.

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The statement was in response to a New York Times article which stated that the UN health agency has estimated a total of about 15 million deaths related to the virus by the end of 2021, more than double the official figures reported by countries individually. The report claimed the WHO estimate will show India’s death toll is at least four million, almost eight times the official numbers.

“But the release of the staggering estimate…has been delayed for months because of objections from India, which disputes the calculation of how many of its citizens died and has tried to keep it from becoming public,” the report said.

The Health Ministry said in a statement released Saturday that “India’s basic objection has not been with the result (whatever they might have been) but rather the methodology adopted for the same.”

The health ministry stated India has been in a “regular and in-depth technical exchange” with WHO on the issue and has shared its concerns regarding the methodology through a series of formal communications, including six letters and virtual meetings.

The ministry raised concerns about the WHO’s methodology for calculating COVID-19 deaths in the country. Notably, India along with other member countries, including China and Bangladesh, shared its concern with the methodology through a series of six formal letters to the WHO. These letters were written between November 2021 to February 2022.

“The concern specifically includes on how the statistical model projects estimates for a country of geographical size & population of India and also fits in with other countries which have smaller population,” the Ministry said.

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