"Unsound Analysis": Centre On Report That India Covid Deaths 7 Times More

The Union Health Ministry said the government has been transparent in its approach to Covid data management.

India today refuted a report which claimed that its Covid deaths could be "five-to-seven times" higher than the official number, saying the assessment is based on extrapolation of data without any epidemiological evidence. In a statement, the Union Health Ministry also slammed the publication, without naming it, for the article which claimed "India has suffered perhaps five to seven times ''excess deaths'' than the official number of Covid-19 fatalities". The ministry termed the article, published by The Economist, speculative, without any basis and misinformed. "The unsound analysis of the said article is based on the extrapolation of data without any epidemiological evidence," the ministry said, adding the studies used by the magazine to estimate the mortality are not validated tools for determining the death rate of any country or region.