At Geneva Meet, India Says Disappointed Over WHO's Excess Mortality Report

In a report released on May 5, the WHO estimated that nearly 15 million people were killed globally either by the coronavirus or by its impact on overwhelmed health systems in the past two years.

India on Monday expressed dismay and concern over the WHO's recent report on all-cause excess mortality estimates, saying authentic data published by the statutory authority has not been taken into account. 

Addressing the World Health Assembly, Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya conveyed the collective disappointment of the Central Council of Health and Family Welfare, a representative body of health ministers from all states of India, which had passed a unanimous resolution regarding the approach and methodology of the World Health Organization (WHO) on its excess mortality report.

In a report released on May 5, the WHO estimated that nearly 15 million people were killed globally either by the coronavirus or by its impact on overwhelmed health systems in the past two years, more than double the official death count of six million. Most of the fatalities were in Southeast Asia, Europe and the Americas.

According to the report, there were 4.7 million Covid deaths in India -- 10 times the official figure and almost a third of Covid deaths globally.