India has rejected World Health Organisation claims that an estimated 4.7 million Indians were killed by the coronavirus pandemic — nearly 10 times the country’s official death toll.
The UN public health body on Thursday released a report on excess deaths due to Covid-19.
This said about 15 million people died in the pandemic globally — either directly or due to the pandemic’s impact on health systems and society.
It said almost a third of the excess deaths between January 2020 and December 2021 were from India.
New Delhi had expressed its displeasure over the methodology before the release of the report.
India called the WHO’s system of data collection for excess mortality “statistically unsound and scientifically questionable” and strongly contested the validity of the estimate model.
“India has been consistently objecting to the methodology adopted by WHO to project excess mortality estimates based on mathematical models,” the Indian Health Ministry said.
“Despite India’s objection to the process, methodology and outcome of this modelling exercise, WHO has released the excess mortality estimates without adequately addressing India’s concern,” the statement said.
India officially reported 481,000 deaths by the end of December 2021. This figure reached 525,000 in May.
The WHO said that for India, it relied on a variety of sources for the registered number of deaths, information either reported directly by the states through official reports and automatic vital registration, or by journalists.
New Delhi said the WHO ignored its inputs in the form of annual birth and death registration for 2020, which were released last week.
It said the official data on all registered deaths in India was authentic and had been communicated to the WHO before the release of its report.
India officially recorded 8,115,882 deaths in 2020, according to the Civil Registration System. It showed around 475,000 deaths as excess, compared to the previous year.
“WHO, for reasons best known to them, conveniently chose to ignore the available data submitted by India and published the excess mortality estimates for which the methodology, source of data, and the outcomes has been consistently questioned by India,” the ministry said.
Many independent studies in the past have also claimed that India’s official death count was an underestimation of actual fatalities ― particularly during the Delta variant second wave between March and May 2021.
The devastating surge almost brought the country’s healthcare system to the brink of collapse, with tens of thousands of people struggling to find hospital beds and medicines.
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In numbers: China in Dubai
The number of Chinese people living in Dubai: An estimated 200,000
Number of Chinese people in International City: Almost 50,000
Daily visitors to Dragon Mart in 2018/19: 120,000
Daily visitors to Dragon Mart in 2010: 20,000
Percentage increase in visitors in eight years: 500 per cent
The five pillars of Islam
In-demand jobs and monthly salaries
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Our legal columnist
Name: Yousef Al Bahar
Advocate at Al Bahar & Associate Advocates and Legal Consultants, established in 1994
Education: Mr Al Bahar was born in 1979 and graduated in 2008 from the Judicial Institute. He took after his father, who was one of the first Emirati lawyers
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LA LIGA FIXTURES
Friday
Granada v Real Betis (9.30pm)
Valencia v Levante (midnight)
Saturday
Espanyol v Alaves (4pm)
Celta Vigo v Villarreal (7pm)
Leganes v Real Valladolid (9.30pm)
Mallorca v Barcelona (midnight)
Sunday
Atletic Bilbao v Atletico Madrid (4pm)
Real Madrid v Eibar (9.30pm)
Real Sociedad v Osasuna (midnight)
Red flags
- Promises of high, fixed or 'guaranteed' returns.
- Unregulated structured products or complex investments often used to bypass traditional safeguards.
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Courtesy: Carol Glynn, founder of Conscious Finance Coaching
Skewed figures
In the village of Mevagissey in southwest England the housing stock has doubled in the last century while the number of residents is half the historic high. The village's Neighbourhood Development Plan states that 26% of homes are holiday retreats. Prices are high, averaging around £300,000, £50,000 more than the Cornish average of £250,000. The local average wage is £15,458.
Profile
Company: Justmop.com
Date started: December 2015
Founders: Kerem Kuyucu and Cagatay Ozcan
Sector: Technology and home services
Based: Jumeirah Lake Towers, Dubai
Size: 55 employees and 100,000 cleaning requests a month
Funding: The company’s investors include Collective Spark, Faith Capital Holding, Oak Capital, VentureFriends, and 500 Startups.
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Benefits of first-time home buyers' scheme
- Priority access to new homes from participating developers
- Discounts on sales price of off-plan units
- Flexible payment plans from developers
- Mortgages with better interest rates, faster approval times and reduced fees
- DLD registration fee can be paid through banks or credit cards at zero interest rates
