WHO used different method for Covid deaths in India: Jon Wakefield

The methodology used by the World Health Organization (WHO) to calculate the number of deaths in India due to Covid-19 is different from the one which Indian authorities have dismissed as being flawed, Jon Wakefield, member of the WHO's technical advisory group responsible for the modelling, told ET.

Wakefield said they developed one model for countries with no data, and a different model for countries with subnational data, and India falls in the second category.

"The Indian government critiques were of the first model, which we didn't use for India," he said in an exclusive interview. "India was repeatedly informed of this."


Wakefield, who is professor of biostatistics at the Washington State University, said, "India's statements on the model were inaccurate, including those contained in the most recent government response."

According to the WHO estimates released last week, Covid-19 could have killed as many as 4.74 million people in India in 2020 and 2021, either directly due to infection or through its indirect impact. The figure - which has been disputed by India - is nearly ten times the country's official Covid death toll of 481,000 at the end of 2021.

Wakefield said, "My only request is for all countries to disseminate accurate and timely mortality data, as soon as possible, so they can catalogue the death toll of this awful pandemic."

Wakefield said they did not calculate state-wise death numbers for India and only the total was computed. The work continues, as Wakefield said that they will continue to develop the model and will update the estimates at some point in the future.

State health ministers in India have termed WHO's estimate as "baseless" and that it "intended to show the country in a poor light".