/photo alliance, NurPhoto, Nasir Kachroo
New Delhi – Following the publication of World Health Organization estimates (WHO) on deaths caused by the coronavirus pandemic, India strongly criticized him.
According to WHO estimates, the pandemic killed 4.7 million people in India in 2020 and 2021, about ten times more than India's official figures for coronavirus deaths. Nearly one in three pandemic-related deaths worldwide have occurred in India, according to the WHO.
India's health ministry called the methodology of the estimates “questionable” in a statement and criticized the WHO for failing to adequately address these concerns.
Since Indian authorities will publish “authentic data” on births and deaths, mathematical models should not be used to calculate the country's excess mortality, the statement said. The country also doubts whether the methodology works for a country like India, which has a population of 1.3 billion.
A year ago, India experienced a particularly serious wave linked to the Delta variant. Images of overcrowded crematoriums and hospitals have gone around the world.
The WHO figure includes both people who died from coronavirus and people presumed infected but not tested, as well as people with other illnesses or injuries who could not be treated in time because health systems health were overwhelmed. © dpa/aerzteblatt.de
