Media report on excess Covid deaths in India ‘purely speculative’: Govt

New Delhi: The government told Lok Sabha on Friday that the report by an international magazine claiming that India’s COVID-19 deaths were more than the number officially recorded was ”purely speculative”.

In a written reply to a question, Union Minister of State for Health Bharati Pravin Pawar said the international magazine in its report in January 2022 speculated excess deaths than the official number of COVID-19 fatalities.

”The report was purely speculative that made use of the non-validated methodology for calculating estimates of excess mortality and lacked any peer-reviewed scientific data,” she said.

The report by Project: Jeevan Raksha released in October 2021 suffered from a similar lack of scientific rigor, the minister said.

India has a robust Civil Registration System (CRS) and Sample Registration System (SRS) which predates the COVID-19 pandemic and covers all states and union territories, she stated.

The registration of deaths in the country is done under the Registration of Births and Deaths Act (RBD Act, 1969) by functionaries appointed by the state governments. In the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, detailed guidelines for reporting of deaths have been issued by the Union Health Ministry to all states and UTs.

Accordingly, all states and UTs report cases and deaths to the Union Health Ministry on a regular basis. Indian Council for Medical Research (ICMR) on 10th May 2020 issued guidance for the appropriate recording of COVID-19-related deaths in India, Pawar said.

States and union territories were also provided with a proforma for taking death audits in this regard. They have been urged through formal communications, multiple video conferences, and through the deployment of central teams for correct recording of deaths in accordance with laid down guidelines, the minister said.