Lagatar24 Desk
New Delhi, Feb 17: The Centre flatly denied media allegations that the Covid-19-related mortality in the country is substantially greater than the official tally, and actual fatalities have been undercounted.
According to the Centre, accusations in some sections of the media that Covid-19 fatalities in India are significantly greater than the official tally are “fallacious and completely incorrect.”
“There have been some media reports based on a published research paper alleging that mortality due to Covid-19 in India is much higher than the official count and that actual numbers have been undercounted…these reports are fallacious and completely inaccurate. They are not based on facts and are speculative in nature,” centre said in a statement.
There have been some media reports based on a published research paper alleging that mortality due to #COVID19 in India is much higher than the official count and actual numbers have been undercounted…These reports are fallacious and completely inaccurate: Govt of India pic.twitter.com/cA9ZR0N4sg
— ANI (@ANI) February 17, 2022
According to the government, the report alleges that 3.2 million to 3.7 million individuals died in the country from Covid-19 by early November 2021, contrary to official figures of 4.6 lakh in November 2021.
In response to the “false and completely inaccurate” report, the Centre stated that India has a robust system of reporting deaths, including Covid-19 deaths that are compiled on a regular basis at various levels of government beginning at the gram Panchayat level and progressing to the district and state levels.
Meanwhile, in light of the country’s improved Covid-19 situation, the Centre authorised states and union territories to review and revise or remove restrictions on Wednesday.
“The COVID-19 pandemic in India is showing a sustained declining trend since January 21, 2022. The average daily cases during last week are 50,476 and 27,409 new cases has been reported in the last 24 hours. The daily case positivity on February 15 has declined to 3.63 per cent,” said Union Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan, in a letter to all states/UTs.