India Challenges Covid Mortality Estimates in Science Advances

The Union health ministry disputes findings in a recent Science Advances paper on life expectancy and mortality rates during the Covid pandemic in India. The ministry highlights critical methodological flaws and asserts that India's Civil Registration System is robust, capturing over 99% of deaths. They claim the reported excess mortality of 11.9 lakh deaths is greatly exaggerated.

The Union health ministry has disputed the findings of a recent paper on life expectancy during the Covid pandemic in India, published in the academic journal Science Advances. The ministry labeled the estimates as 'untenable and unacceptable,' highlighting significant methodological flaws.

The ministry's statement criticized the paper's authors for extrapolating results based on a subset of households surveyed between January and April 2021. This subset, comprising 23% of households from 14 states, cannot be considered representative of the entire country, according to the ministry.

Additionally, the ministry emphasized the robustness of India's Civil Registration System (CRS), which reportedly captures over 99% of deaths. The excessive mortality of 11.9 lakh deaths stated in the paper is a gross overestimate, the ministry asserted, further supported by data from the Sample Registration System (SRS).