"No Basis At All": Centre Trashes New York Times Report On Covid Deaths

The New York Times said in an article published Tuesday that India's death count was more likely three times the official 3 lakh, basing it on data from three nationwide sero surveys or antibody tests.

The government today trashed as "baseless" a New York Times report that said India's Covid deaths were severely undercounted and underreported. "The NYT report is not backed by any evidence and is based on distorted estimates," said VK Paul, NITI Aayog member and the head of India's Covid task force. The New York Times said in an article published on Tuesday that India's death count was more likely three times the official 3 lakh, basing it on data from three nationwide sero surveys or antibody tests. The article offered various scenarios and estimated 42 lakh deaths in the worst case, as it said the official figures in India "grossly understate the true scale of the pandemic in the country".