Methodology of data collection questionable: Pakistan on WHO's COVID-19 deaths report
The Hindu
Official records state Pakistan had 30,369 COVID-19 deaths with over 1.5 million infections
The Pakistani Government has rejected the World Health Organization's (WHO) report on the number of COVID-19 deaths in the country, questioning the United Nations body's methodology to collect data and supposing an error in the software used to collate the numbers.
In a recent report, the WHO estimated there were 2,60,000 COVID-19 deaths in Pakistan -- eight times the official figure. Official records state Pakistan had 30,369 COVID-19 deaths with over 1.5 million infections.
"We [authorities] have been gathering data manually on COVID deaths, it could have a difference of a few hundred but it can't be in hundreds of thousands. This is completely baseless," Samaa News quoted Health Minister Abdul Qadir Patel as saying.
According to the report, nearly 15 million people were killed either by the coronavirus or by its impact on overwhelmed health systems in the past two years across the world, more than double the official death toll of six million. Most of the fatalities were in Southeast Asia, Europe and the Americas.
Minister Patel said the government has explained the calculation process to the WHO in a note rejecting the world health body's numbers.
Mr. Patel said the methodology of data collection is questionable, adding that authorities in Pakistan collected the figures from hospitals, union councils, and graveyards.
He suspected "some error" in the data collection software used by the WHO which has been "showing figures in average", according to the Samaa News report.
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