"Fallacious": Government On Report Of "Vastly Undercounted" Covid Deaths

COVID-19 Deaths India: There have been some recent media reports alleging that India's tally of excess deaths during the pandemic could be in millions, terming the official COVID-19 death count "vastly undercounted", the ministry said in a statement.

Refuting media reports that alleged India's COVID-19 death count was "vastly undercounted", the government on Thursday said the reports assume that all excess mortality figures are Covid deaths, which is not based on facts and totally fallacious. Given the robust and statute-based death registration system in India, while some cases could go undetected as per the principles of infectious disease and its management, missing out on the deaths is unlikely, the Union Health Ministry said. There have been some recent media reports alleging that India's tally of excess deaths during the pandemic could be in millions, terming the official COVID-19 death count "vastly undercounted", the ministry said in a statement. In these news reports, quoting findings from some recent studies, the US and European countries' age-specific infection fatality rates have been used to calculate excess deaths in India based on the sero-positivity.