Lok Sabha Question No. 2100 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2022-07-29
Subject: Data on death due to COVID-19
Ministry: HEALTH AND FAMILY WELFARE
Asked by: Vijayakumar (alias) Vijay Vasanth, Deepak Baij, Asaduddin Owaisi

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF HEALTH AND FAMILY WELFARE DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND FAMILY WELFARE

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 2100 TO BE ANSWERED ON 29.07.2022

## 'DATA ON DEATH DUE COVID-19'

## † 2100. SHRI VIJAYAKUMAR (ALIAS) VIJAY VASANTH:

SHRI DEEPAK BAIJ:

SHRI ASADUDDIN OWAISI:

Will the Minister of HEALTH & FAMILY WELFARE be pleased to state:

- (a) Whether the Government is aware that WHO has estimated 4.7 million COVID deaths in the country which is 10 times more deaths than official figure of the Government, if so, the details thereof along with the response of the Government thereto;
- (b) the criteria adopted for estimation of deaths due to COVID in the country by WHO;
- (c) whether WHO has also released similar type of estimated data for other countries, if so, the details thereof;
- (d) whether the Government has put forward its case in declaring more deaths than the actual figure, if so, the response of the WHO in this regard,
- (e) whether the Government has any proposal to increase the investment in the health sector, if so, the details thereof; and
- (f) the  number  of  deaths  due  to  COVID-19  reported  so  far  along  with  the  details  of applications received for compensation of claim for death due to COVID-19, State/UTwise and date-wise and the status of disposal of these applications thereof?

## ANSWER THE MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF HEALTH & FAMILY WELFARE ( DR BHARATI PRAVIN PAWAR)

(a) to (f): As on 26 th July 2022, as reported by States/UTs, a total of 5,26,110 deaths due to COVID-19 have been reported in the country.

World  Health  Organization  (WHO),  based  on  a  mathematical  modeling  exercise  has projected an estimate of about 47 lakh excess deaths in India associated directly or indirectly with  COVID-19  pandemic,  between  1 st January  2020  and  31 st December  2021.  This  is primarily  an  estimate  of  deaths  due  to  all-causes  which  includes  deaths  due  to  COVID-19 also.

This mathematical modeling  based approach by  WHO,  suffered  from  a  number  of inconsistencies and erroneous assumptions. India had highlighted against the classification of certain countries under Tier-1 while they had displayed data inconsistencies in reporting and placing India under Tier 2 while India has followed a robust system of data reporting.

India had also objected to the one size fits all approach adopted by WHO, which might be true  for  smaller  countries  but  cannot  be  applied  to  a  huge  and  diverse  country  like  India which  had  varied  case  trajectory  across  multiple  states  and  at  different  periods  during  the pandemic.

WHO was also  asked  to  explain  the  unscientific  approach  wherein  their  projections  were based on data from only 17 States/UTs obtained from websites/RTIs taken at varied periods of time and extrapolated to the entire country.

The  study  did  not  account  for  varied  COVID-19  test  positivity  rate  across  States,  and  at different  periods  of  time  besides  the  implications  of  using  different  diagnostic  methods (RAT/RT-PCR) in different countries.

According  to  WHO's  own  admission,  their  modeling  exercise  suffered  from  a  number  of limitations like limited representation and generalization of variable utilized to settings that may be systematically different.

Central  Council  of  Health  and  Family  Welfare,  a  representative  body  of  Health  Ministers from  all  States/UTs  of  India,  constituted  under  Article  263  of  Constitution  of  India,  has passed a unanimous resolution against the WHO's approach in this regard and authorized the Union Health Minister to convey their collective disappointment to WHO.

India  had  registered  a  strong  objection  to  the  process,  methodology  and  outcome  of  this unscientific modelling approach especially when India had provided authentic data published through Civil Registration System by Registrar General of India to WHO.

To  better  prepare  our  country  against  public  health  emergencies,  PM  Ayushman  Bharat Health  Infrastructure  Mission  (PM-ABHIM) with an outlay  of  Rs.  64,180  crores  has  been taken up to strengthen infrastructure of public health labs, surveillance capacities, infectious disease block across the country besides supporting research.

As per information received from various State Governments/UT Administration, as on 27 th May 2022, 7,91,353 claims have been settled/payment released as ex-gratia relief from State Disaster Response Fund (SDRF) to next of kin of the persons who died due to COVID-19.

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