Fact Check: India's toll of excess deaths during Covid-19 could be in millions?
Tuesday, May 24, 2022
  • Circulation
  • Advertise
  • About Us
  • Contact Us
  • Privacy Policy
Organiser
  • ‌
  • Bharat
  • World
  • Editorial
  • Analysis
  • Opinion
  • Defence
  • Sports
  • Business
  • More
    • RSS in News
    • Special Report
    • Culture
    • Sci & Tech
    • Entertainment
    • Education
    • Books
    • Interviews
    • Travel
    • Health
    • Obituary
SUBSCRIBE
No Result
View All Result
Organiser
  • ‌
  • Bharat
  • World
  • Editorial
  • Analysis
  • Opinion
  • Defence
  • Sports
  • Business
  • More
    • RSS in News
    • Special Report
    • Culture
    • Sci & Tech
    • Entertainment
    • Education
    • Books
    • Interviews
    • Travel
    • Health
    • Obituary
No Result
View All Result
Organiser
No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • Bharat
  • World
  • Editorial
  • Opinion
  • Analysis
  • Culture
  • Defence
  • RSS in News
  • Subscribe
Home Bharat

Fact Check: India’s toll of excess deaths during Covid-19 could be in millions?

WEB DESK by WEB DESK
Jul 22, 2021, 12:33 pm IST
in Bharat
Share on FacebookShare on TwitterTelegramEmail

 

Union Health Ministry has advised States to conduct death audits in their hospitals and report any cases or deaths that could have been missed.

 

There have been some recent media reports alleging that India’s toll of excess deaths during the pandemic could be in millions, terming the official COVID-19 death toll as ‘vastly undercounted’.

 

In these news reports quoting findings from some recent studies, US & European countries’ age-specific infection fatality rates have been used to calculate excess deaths in India based on the seropositivity. The extrapolation of deaths has been done on an audacious assumption that the likelihood of any given infected person dying is the same across countries, dismissing the interplay between various direct & indirect factors such as race, ethnicity, the genomic constitution of a population, previous exposure levels to other diseases and the associated immunity developed in that population.

 

Furthermore, seroprevalence studies are not only used to guide strategy and measures to further prevent the spread of infection to the vulnerable population but are also used as another basis to extrapolate deaths. The studies also have another potential concern that the antibody titers may diminish over time, leading to underestimation of true prevalence and corresponding overestimation of Infection Fatality Rate. Further, the reports assume that all the excess mortality figures are COVID deaths, which is not based on facts and is totally fallacious. Excess mortality is a term used to describe an all-cause mortality figure, and attributing these deaths to COVID-19 is completely misleading.

 

India has a thorough contact tracing strategy. All the primary contacts, whether symptomatic or asymptomatic, are tested for COVID-19. The true detected cases are the ones that test positive with RT PCR, which is the gold standard of the COVID-19 test. In addition to the contacts, given the vast availability of more than 2700 testing laboratories in the country, anyone who wants to get tested is able to get the test done. This, coupled with vast IEC about the symptoms and access to medical care, has ensured people could reach out to hospitals in case of need.

 

Given the robust and statute based death Registration System in India, while some cases could go undetected as per the principles of Infectious Disease & its management, missing out on the deaths is unlikely. This could also be seen in the case fatality rate, which, as of 31st December 2020, stood at 1.45%, and even after an unexpected surge observed in the second wave in April-May 2021, the case fatality rate today stands at 1.34%.

 

Moreover, the reporting of daily new cases and deaths in India follows a bottom-up approach, where districts report the number of cases & deaths to the State Governments and to the Union Ministry on a continuous basis. As early as May 2020, to avoid inconsistency or confusion in the number of deaths being reported, the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) issued ‘Guidance for appropriate recording of COVID-19 related deaths in India’ for correct recording of all deaths by States/UTs as per ICD-10 codes recommended by WHO for mortality coding.

 

In his statement in Rajya Sabha yesterday, Shri Mansukh Mandaviya, Union Minister of Health & Family Welfare, has refuted allegations of hiding COVID-19 deaths and said that the Central government only compiles and publishes data sent by the state governments.

 

The Union Health Ministry has repeatedly been advising States and UTs through formal communications, multiple video conferences and through the deployment of Central teams for the recording of deaths in accordance with laid down guidelines. The Health Ministry has also regularly emphasized the need for a robust reporting mechanism for monitoring district wise cases and deaths on a daily basis. States have been advised to conduct thorough audits in their hospitals and report any cases or deaths that could have been missed with district and date-wise details so as to guide data-driven decision making. During the peak of the 2nd wave, the entire health system was focused on effective clinical management of cases requiring medical help, and correct reporting & recording could have been compromised, which is also evident in a few states such as Maharashtra, Bihar & Madhya Pradesh reconciling their number of deaths recently.

 

In addition to this reporting, the robustness of statute based Civil Registration System (CRS) ensures all the births and deaths in the country get registered. The CRS follows the process of data collection, cleaning, collating and publishing the numbers, which is a long time-consuming process, but ensures no deaths are missed out. For the expanse and the amplitude of the activity, the numbers are usually published the next year.

ShareTweetSendShareSend
Previous News

Slamming Twitter bullies, Afghanistan VP Amrullah Saleh Shares Image Of 1971 Pak Army Surrender To India

Next News

IT Dept raids office premises of Dainik Bhaskar and Bharat Samachar over charges of tax evasion

Related News

Prime Minister Narendra Modi to lead Mass Yoga Demonstration at Mysore on 8th International Day of Yoga

Prime Minister Narendra Modi to lead Mass Yoga Demonstration at Mysore on 8th International Day of Yoga

Assam: CM Himanta Biswa Sarma visits Dima Hasao; reviews situation and assured aid

Assam: CM Himanta Biswa Sarma visits Dima Hasao; reviews situation and assured aid

Saiyyad Salar Masud (“Ghazi Miyan”): The Fanatic Who Was Defeated and Killed By Maharaja Suheldev

Saiyyad Salar Masud (“Ghazi Miyan”): The Fanatic Who Was Defeated and Killed By Maharaja Suheldev

BJP slams Rahul Gandhi over meeting with UK leader Jeremy Corbyn known for his ‘anti-India’ stance

BJP slams Rahul Gandhi over meeting with UK leader Jeremy Corbyn known for his ‘anti-India’ stance

Jammu and Kashmir: Cop succumbs to injuries in terrorist firing; Daughter injured

Jammu and Kashmir: Cop succumbs to injuries in terrorist firing; Daughter injured

Arunachal Pradesh: Union Home Minister Amit Shah lays foundation stone of 51 feet Lord Parshuram statue in Lohit

Arunachal Pradesh: Union Home Minister Amit Shah lays foundation stone of 51 feet Lord Parshuram statue in Lohit

Comments

The comments posted here/below/in the given space are not on behalf of Organiser. The person posting the comment will be in sole ownership of its responsibility. According to the central government's IT rules, obscene or offensive statement made against a person, religion, community or nation is a punishable offense, and legal action would be taken against people who indulge in such activities.

Latest News

Prime Minister Narendra Modi to lead Mass Yoga Demonstration at Mysore on 8th International Day of Yoga

Prime Minister Narendra Modi to lead Mass Yoga Demonstration at Mysore on 8th International Day of Yoga

Assam: CM Himanta Biswa Sarma visits Dima Hasao; reviews situation and assured aid

Assam: CM Himanta Biswa Sarma visits Dima Hasao; reviews situation and assured aid

Saiyyad Salar Masud (“Ghazi Miyan”): The Fanatic Who Was Defeated and Killed By Maharaja Suheldev

Saiyyad Salar Masud (“Ghazi Miyan”): The Fanatic Who Was Defeated and Killed By Maharaja Suheldev

BJP slams Rahul Gandhi over meeting with UK leader Jeremy Corbyn known for his ‘anti-India’ stance

BJP slams Rahul Gandhi over meeting with UK leader Jeremy Corbyn known for his ‘anti-India’ stance

Jammu and Kashmir: Cop succumbs to injuries in terrorist firing; Daughter injured

Jammu and Kashmir: Cop succumbs to injuries in terrorist firing; Daughter injured

Arunachal Pradesh: Union Home Minister Amit Shah lays foundation stone of 51 feet Lord Parshuram statue in Lohit

Arunachal Pradesh: Union Home Minister Amit Shah lays foundation stone of 51 feet Lord Parshuram statue in Lohit

Returning to Bhartiya Roots

Returning to Bhartiya Roots

Shree Jagannath Heritage Corridor project is a grave threat to the temple security, must stop immediately

Controversy Around Jagannath Temple Corridor Project Refuses To Die, Intensifying Day By Day

Nehru-Liaquat Pact

Nehru-Liaquat Pact

Southern Baptist Convention covered up sex abuse by clergy, vilified survivors: Report

Southern Baptist Convention covered up sex abuse by clergy, vilified survivors: Report

  • Circulation
  • Advertise
  • About Us
  • Contact Us
  • Privacy Policy

© Bharat Prakashan (Delhi) Limited.
Tech-enabled by Ananthapuri Technologies

No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • Bharat
  • World
  • Editorial
  • Analysis
  • Opinion
  • Defence
  • Culture
  • Sports
  • Business
  • RSS in News
  • Special Report
  • Sci & Tech
  • Entertainment
  • Education
  • Books
  • Interviews
  • Travel
  • Health
  • Obituary
  • Subscribe
  • About Us
  • Advertise
  • Circulation
  • Contact Us
  • Privacy Policy

© Bharat Prakashan (Delhi) Limited.
Tech-enabled by Ananthapuri Technologies