While the Union government vehemently opposed excess death estimates, it has so far not rejected claims made in a study published in the Lancet about deaths prevented by the vaccination programme.
WHO also said they chose the mathematical model as many countries "still lack capacity for reliable mortality surveillance and therefore do not collect and generate the data needed to calculate excess mortality".
The new figures reflect people who died of Covid-19 as well as those who died as an indirect result of the outbreak, including people who could not access healthcare for other conditions
By comparing India's standard of governance, quality of healthcare and social capital to other similarly placed countries, we can reliably conclude that the reported cases and deaths during the pandemic are grossly understated.
Delhi government introduced price caps on Covid-19 care at private hospitals, but failed to enforce them. This put the city’s residents, already struggling with trauma and loss, under tremendous financial strain.