Underreporting of COVID-19 Deaths in India: Bad Science or Smart Politics?

Article Sidebar

PDF Download
Published Feb 28, 2023
DOI: https://doi.org/10.18103/mra.v11i2.3497

Downloads

Download data is not yet available.

Submit your own article

Register as an author to reserve your spot in the next issue of the Medical Research Archives.

Author Registration

Join the Society

The European Society of Medicine is more than a professional association. We are a community. Our members work in countries across the globe, yet are united by a common goal: to promote health and health equity, around the world.

Join Europe’s leading medical society and discover the many advantages of membership, including free article publication.

Membership

Main Article Content

Kunal Saha, MD, PhD, Ex-professor
Dept. of Pediatrics & Microbiology, Ohio State University Medical Center and Children’s Hospital, Columbus, Ohio, USA and President, People for Better Treatment (PBT), Commercial Point (Ground Floor), 79 Lenin Sarani, Kolkata, India.

Abstract

COVID-19 pandemic has devastated the world over the past three years with millions already dead.  Despite making major strides to combat the pandemic with useful vaccines against the SARS-CoV-2 virus, potential for more dangers from new variants of COVID-19 cannot be ruled out.  Several studies have recently shown that the number of COVID-19 deaths as reported by different nations was far less than the number of people who may have died due to pandemic.  Although many countries across the globe may have undercounted the death toll due to COVID-19, India holds the ignominious distinction for the highest number of unrecognized COVID-19 deaths.  Both unreliable science and willful spread of misinformation about true lethal nature of COVID-19 by devious governmental authorities are likely responsible for the gross underreporting of COVID-19 deaths.  Complete scientific transparency and absolute immunity against political intrusion of healthcare would be essential to end the COVID-19 pandemic and to protect humanity against other pandemics in future.

Article Details

How to Cite
SAHA, Kunal. Underreporting of COVID-19 Deaths in India: Bad Science or Smart Politics?. Medical Research Archives, [S.l.], v. 11, n. 2, feb. 2023. ISSN 2375-1924. Available at: <https://esmed.org/MRA/mra/article/view/3497>. Date accessed: 30 dec. 2024. doi: https://doi.org/10.18103/mra.v11i2.3497.
ABNT APA BibTeX CBE EndNote - EndNote format (Macintosh & Windows) MLA ProCite - RIS format (Macintosh & Windows) RefWorks Reference Manager - RIS format (Windows only) Turabian
Issue
Vol 11 No 2 (2023): February Issue, Vol.11 Issue 2
Section
Research Articles

The Medical Research Archives grants authors the right to publish and reproduce the unrevised contribution in whole or in part at any time and in any form for any scholarly non-commercial purpose with the condition that all publications of the contribution include a full citation to the journal as published by the Medical Research Archives.

 

References

1. Lazarus, J.V. A multinational Delphi consensus to end the COVID-19 public health threat. Nature 2022; 611: 332.
2. Sachs, J.D. et al. The Lancet Commission on lessons for the future from the COVID-19 pandemic. Lancet 2022; 400: 1224.
3. The true death toll of COVID-19: Estimating global excess mortality: WHO Available at https://www.who.int/data/stories/the-true-death-toll-of-covid-19-estimating-global-excess-mortality [Accessed on January 28, 2023].
4. Wang, H. et al. Estimating excess mortality due to the COVID-19 pandemic: a systematic analysis of COVID-19-related mortality, 2020–21. Lancet 2022; 399: 1513.
5. Jha, P. et al. COVID mortality in India: National survey data and health facility deaths; Science 2022; 375: 667-671.
6. Chatterjee P. Is India missing COVID-19 deaths? Lancet 2020; 396: 657.
7. Dyer O. COVID-19: Two-thirds in India carry antibodies, while re-search suggests country’s death toll 10 times official figures. BMJ 2021; 374: n1856.
8. aha, K. Silencing the media: COVID-19 death controversy in India. J Clin Med Img. 2022; V6(1): 1.
9. Biswas RK, Afiaz A, Huq S. Underreporting COVID-19: the curious case of the Indian subcontinent. Epidemiol Infect 2020; 148: e207.
10. As COVID-19 devastates India, deaths go undercounted. New York Times, April 24, 2021. Available at https://www.nytimes.com/2021/04/24/world/asia/india-coronavirus-deaths.html [Accessed January 28, 2023].
11. Saha, K. Can India’s COVID-19 emergency be fixed without politics? Lancet 2021; 397: 2465-66.
12. India COVID: Delhi hospitals plead for oxygen as more patients die. BBC News, May. 2021. Available at https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-56940595 [accessed January 28, 2023].
13. Covid-19: India to pay $674 compensation for every death. BBC News, October 4, 2021. Available at https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-58731158 [accessed January 28, 2023].