India denies millions died from COVID-19
Government says 52 countries helped India during second wave; nation records 41,383 cases and 507 deaths in 24 hours
The Indian government rejected on Thursday recent studies suggesting that millions of people have died in the country from COVID-19, several times the official toll of almost 420,000.
It said in a statement however that several Indian states were now “reconciling” their data ater dealing with a spike in cases in April and May.
On Tuesday a study by US research group the centre for Global Development suggested anywhere from 3.4 million to 4.7 million people had died in India, between eight and 11 times the official number. That would give the country the world’s highest number of fatalities.
Currently its official toll of 419,000 trails the United States on 610,000 and Brazil with 545,000.
The study is the latest to cast doubt on India’s official numbers, pointing to poor record-keeping and the death rate per million being around half the global average.
Researchers have looked in particular at “excess mortality,” the number of additional fatalities compared with normal times, and at death rates in other countries.
But the Indian government said on Thursday it was an “audacious assumption that the likelihood of any given infected person dying is the same across countries.” The studies, it said, ignored “factors such as race, ethnicity, genomic constitution of a population, previous exposure levels to other diseases and the associated immunity developed in that population”.
Assuming that all excess deaths were from coronavirus was “not based on facts and totally fallacious,” the government said.
It added that India has a “thorough contact tracing strategy,” a “vast availability” of testing labs and that while some cases may go undetected, “missing out on deaths is unlikely.” The statement however let some room for blame against local authorities, saying the health ministry “only compiles and publishes data sent by the state governments” and that it had been “repeatedly advising” states on properly recording deaths.
States overwhelmed by the surge in April and May have now been “advised to conduct thorough audits that could have been missed,” and several have in recent weeks updated their figures, it said.
Maharashtra, India’s worst-hit state, has upped its death toll by around 15,000 while Bihar added about 4,000 and Madhya Pradesh 1,500.
Meanwhile, the government said on Thursday that a total of 52 countries came forward to help India when the nation was hit by the second wave of COVID-19.
In a writen reply to parliamentarian Binoy Viswam in Rajya Sabha, Minister of State (External Affairs) VA Muraleedharan said during the unprecedented crisis, the international community came forward with offers of solidarity and assistance for specific medicines and equipment that were not immediately available in the country.
He said that foreign materials from 52 countries have been received till date including from government to government, private to government, private to private, Indian community associations and companies.
“Donations were cleared through the InterMinisterial Commitee that includes representatives of Ministry of Health, MEA, Niti Aayog, DPIIT, MHA, MOHFW, etc,” the minister said.
Giving details of the assistance received, the minister said India received 27,116 oxygen cylinders, 29,327 oxygen concentrators, 48 Oxygen PSA plants and 19,375 ventilators from 52 foreign nations during the second COVID-19 wave.
The government also received 33,30,187 Favipiravir, 11,06,940 Remdesiver, 5,10,245 Tocilizumab from the foreign nations.
A total of 19,88,985 rapid diagnostic kit was received during the COVID wave.
India on Thursday recorded 41,383 cases of COVID and 507 deaths, the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare data showed.
The country now has 4,09,394 active cases and has witnessed a total of 4,18,987 deaths so far.
According to the government, a total of 38,652 people were discharged from hospitals and health centres in the last 24 hours, taking the total cured to 3,04,29,339 till date while the virus continues to infect less than one lakh people over the last 44 days.