The World Health Organization was accused of attempting to delay an effort to revise the global death toll from Covid-19 after it was suggested that India had undercounted its dead.
India has an official number of deaths from Covid. The total number of deaths in the world is more than 4 million, which would be the highest country death toll in the world.
Scientists, data analysts and medical journals have made previous estimates that the true number of deaths from Covid in India was up to 10 times higher than the official figures show.
After the country was ravaged by a second wave in April 2021, central and state governments were accused of covering up the real number of people who died from the virus in order to distract attention from the fact that not enough was done to prevent its spread or provide adequate healthcare, medicine and oxygen.
According to reports, the WHO wanted to release the data in January, but the Indian government refused to accept the figure and methodology as correct.
The revised data will be published by the WHO this month and it is estimated that 15 million people have died from Covid. The updated figure includes those who died from other illnesses but could not be treated because of Covid.
The Indian government said it was in discussion with the WHO about the accusation made in the New York Times.
Jon Wakefield, a professor of statistics and biostatistics at the University of Washington who was involved in the modelling for the WHO, released a statement that explained the methodology in detail and rebutted the claims made by the Indian government.
There are fears India may be facing another wave of coronaviruses after daily cases jumped by 90% this week and the rate of positive test results rose overnight.
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