Centre dismisses NYT report on COVID-19 death toll, terms it completely baseless

New Delhi: The Centre on Thursday dismissed New York Times recent report on COVID-19 death toll in India, calling it "completely baseless" and not backed by any evidence.

At a press conference in the national capital, the Union health ministry called the report as absolutely false and based on "distorted estimates".

Health ministry Joint Secretary Lav Agarwal dismissed the report, saying, "The question does not arise that Covid-related deaths are getting concealed because since the beginning, our efforts have been that all cases and deaths are reported in a transparent manner. It is also necessary so that we can understand the overall trajectory of infection and what efforts have to be made so that required actions can be taken for it."

NITI Aayog Member (Health) V K Paul too termed report as based on distorted estimates. "The estimates have been done ad-hoc without any basis... Reported cases are a part of a larger universe of total infections in any country," he said.

Paul said there might be deaths where testing was not done but "outrageous factor suddenly without any basis and just on assumption is not fair and we don't accept it". 

The report by New York Times on Tuesday titled "Just how big could India's true Covid toll be" estimated that India's death count was more likely three times the official 3 lakh, basing it on data from three nationwide sero surveys or antibody tests.