The government on Thursday claimed that India has a robust system of recording Covid-19 deaths and the reports of a higher Covid-19 mortality rate than the government data is speculative in nature.

Refuting the reports of some research papers which claimed Covid-19 deaths in India were under-reported, the Union Health and Family Ministry said all these reports are fallacious and completely inaccurate. “They are not based on facts and are speculative in nature,” said a senior officer of the Union Health Ministry.

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Earlier a study conducted by a private agency had stated between 3.2 million to 3.7 million died in India due to Corona by November 202, whereas the official figure given by the Union Health Ministry stood at less than 0.46 million—almost seven times less than what the private agency had claimed in its study.

The Ministry said India has a robust system of reporting deaths including COVID-19 deaths that is compiled regularly at different levels of governance starting from the Gram Panchayat level to the District level and State level. The reporting of deaths is regularly done in a transparent manner, he said.

“All deaths are compiled by the Centre after being independently reported by States. Based on globally acceptable categorization, the Government of India has a comprehensive definition to classify COVID deaths which have been shared with the States and the States are following it,” the Ministry said.

“Furthermore, the Government of India has been urging states to update their mortality numbers in case certain deaths are not reported in time at the field level, and hence remains completely dedicated to getting the correct picture of the pandemic-related deaths. The Government of India has urged States and UTs through several formal communications, multiple video conferences, and through the deployment of many Central teams for correct recording of deaths in accordance with the prescribed guidelines,” the Ministry said.

“Union Health Ministry has also regularly emphasized the need for a robust reporting mechanism for monitoring district wise cases and deaths on a daily basis. Therefore, to project that COVID deaths have been under-reported is without basis and devoid of justification,” the Ministry said.