WHO Covid death report baseless, say ministers

Health ministers of different states who attended the 14th conference of the Central Council of Health and Family Welfare (CCHFW) have slammed WHO for its estimate of 4.7 million Covid-related deaths in India, saying it is "baseless" and "intended to show the country in a poor light".

They said India has a robust, efficient and comprehensive system for registering deaths and all Covid fatalities are systematically recorded transparently following a legal process.

On Friday, a resolution was passed at the conference strongly objecting to WHO's estimates of Covid deaths in India.It stated the WHO estimate is “unacceptable” to India and the modelling methodology used by the global health body to reach the figure was "flawed". The three-day conference of CCHFW was chaired by Union health minister Mansukh Mandaviya.

Rise in Covid cases

Meanwhile, Covid-19 surge in India continued as fresh cases reached 3,805 on Saturday, 7.3 per cent more than the previous day.

There were only two deaths in 24 hours, one each in Karnataka and West Bengal, though the health ministry reported the count of 22 deaths by adding 20 demises in Kerala on the previous days.

1,407 cases in Delhi

Delhi recorded 1,407 new cases and two more fatalities, according to the data shared by the health department on Saturday. Similarly, Karnataka reported 171 fresh cases taking the total infections to 39,48,635 while there were zero fatalities, the health department said. Odisha recorded 14 new cases, taking the tally to 12,88,131, the health department said.