India strongly objects to WHO’s claim of 4.7 million Covid deaths

India on Thursday strongly objected to the mathematical models used by the World Health Organization (WHO) for projecting excess mortality estimates linked to the coronavirus pandemic, saying validity and robustness of the models used and methodology of data collection are questionable.

In a report released on Thursday, the WHO estimated that nearly 15 million people were killed globally either by the coronavirus or by its impact on overwhelmed health systems in the past two years, more than double the official death count of 6 million. Most of the fatalities were in Southeast Asia, Europe and the Americas. According to the report, there were 4.7 million Covid deaths in India—10 times the official figures and almost a third of Covid deaths globally. India is now likely to raise the issue at the World Health Assembly and multilateral forums, sources said.

India has been consistently objecting to the methodology adopted by the WHO to project excess mortality estimates based on mathematical models, the Union Health Ministry said in a statement. “Despite India’s objection to the process, methodology and outcome of this modelling exercise, WHO has released the excess mortality estimates without adequately addressing India’s concerns,” the statement said.