India Has One Of The 'Lowest' Covid-19 Deaths Per Million, Reports Have Speculated Excess Deaths: Centre

The Union Minister of State for Health Bharati Pravin Pawar told the Rajya Sabha in a written reply that certain reports have at times speculated excess deaths.

New Delhi: The Central government said Tuesday that India has one of the “lowest” 374 Covid-19 deaths per million population, according to the World Health Organization (WHO), compared to similarly affected countries, which include the United States of America, Brazil, Russia, and Mexico.

The Union Minister of State for Health Bharati Pravin Pawar told the Rajya Sabha in a written reply that certain reports have at times speculated excess deaths, news agency PTI reported. By excess deaths, she referred to the fact that the number of deaths speculated was higher than the official number of Covid-19 fatalities reported by India. 

Responding to a question on recent reports showing India having the highest number of deaths during the Covid-19 pandemic and whether the official death toll does not match the data on the civil registration system, Pawar said that these reports have mostly relied on unvalidated methodologies, or data sources used to derive estimates are not reliable. She further said that in most of these studies, the results have been obtained using mathematical modelling techniques from a limited sample of small sub-population subgroups which is extrapolated to the entire country.

"According to the data available with World Health Organization (WHO), India has one of the lowest deaths per million (374 deaths per million population) which is much lower compared to similarly affected countries like the United States of America (2,920 deaths per million population), Brazil (3,092 deaths per million population), Russia (2,506 deaths per million population) and Mexico (2,498 deaths per million population)," a PTI report quoted Pawar as stating in her reply.

The Union Minister of Health and Family Welfare has issued detailed guidelines for reporting of deaths in the context of the Covid-19 pandemic. On May 10, 2020, the Indian Council for Medical Research (ICMR) had issued ‘Guidance for appropriate recording of COVID-19 related deaths in India'.

As per this guideline, all states and Union Territories report cases and deaths to the health ministry. The data is put on public domain on a regular basis.

The minister said that a large number of states have regularly reconciled their death numbers and have reported arrear deaths in a broadly transparent manner. 

She also said it must be noted that there is a monetary incentive in India to report Covid-19 deaths as they are entitled to ex-gratia compensation.

India’s robust Civil Registration System (CRS) and Sample Registration System (SRS) predate the Covid-19 pandemic and cover all states and Union Territories. The minister added that the registration of deaths in the country is done under the Registration of Births and Deaths (RBD) Act, 1969 by functionaries appointed by the state government.

(With PTI Inputs)