(Image source from: indiatoday.in)

USA and India are the most impacted countries of the globe because of the Covid-19 pandemic. The official reports said that the deaths due to coronavirus in India by the end of 2021 are 4.81 lakhs. But the World Health Organization (WHO) revealed that close to 47.4 lakh people passed away in India in 2020 and 2021 directly or indirectly. In an official statement, WHO also said that an estimated 1.5 crore people passed away due to coronavirus across the globe in two years. The official reports said that 54 lakh people passed away across the globe. WHO also said that more than 8.3 lakh Indians passed away in 2020 alone.

The update from WHO came two days after India released the annual date of the registration of births and deaths for 2020 that are recorded in the Civil Registration System (CRS). The CRS does not report the cause of death. The Indian government objected to the process adopted by the World Health Organization in calculating the excess deaths. WHO has been reporting the excessive deaths every year ever since the pandemic started. The official word of the Indian government said "WHO has released the excess mortality estimates without adequately addressing India’s concerns". WHO also said that 84 percent of the deaths took place in Europe, America and South East Asia. As per the reports from the WHO, India accounted to one-third of the total deaths in the world.

By Siva Kumar