India's excess deaths during pandemic may be between 3.4 to 4.9 million

New Delhi: No data was provided by states on deaths due to oxygen shortage - this statement by the Centre has led to a huge political backlash. At the peak of second Covid wave, the struggle among India's hospitals and patients had captured global attention, according to NDTV report.

Acommittee constituted by the Karnataka High Court has found that 36 patients died in Chamarajanagar district hospital due to a lack of oxygen during the second wave of the Covid-19 pandemic. However, Deputy Chief Minister CN Ashwathnarayan denied the findings of the report and said oxygen shortage did not lead to the deaths.

Maharashtra Health Minister Rajesh Tope said the state government never reported any death due to shortage of oxygen during the second wave. India recorded a single day rise of 3,998 coronavirus fatalities as Maharashtra carried out its 14th Covid data reconciliation exercise, pushing the country's death toll to 4,18,480, according to the Union Health Ministry data updated on Wednesday.

Oxygen shortage led to many deaths in India, including in the national capital, Delhi Health Minister Satyendar Jain said, slamming the Centre. "It's completely false to say no one died due to oxygen crisis. Why were hospitals making desperate appeals everyday at the High Court? The centre may soon say there was no pandemic," he said.

"We constituted an Oxygen Audit Committee to assess deaths and provide compensation. But the central government, through Lieutenant Governor Anil Baijal, dismissed it to hide the truth," Jain said. The centre is trying to hide its fault, Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia said, calling the government policies "a disaster". In a written reply to Rajya Sabha on Tuesday, Junior Health Minister Bharati Praveen Pawar stated that health is a state subject and states and Union Territories regularly report the number of cases and deaths to the centre.

"However, no deaths due to lack of oxygen have been specifically reported," she said. Blaming the states, the country's new Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya told parliament: "Prime Minister repeatedly told the states...deaths have to be registered, there's no reason to hide. It's the responsibility of the states. We keep a record of data provided by the states. That's all the central government has to do."

Shiv Sena's Sanjay Raut attacked the ruling BJP over the statements: "I am speechless. For families who've lost their loved ones due to the shortage of medical oxygen, how would they've felt listening to this. These families should file a case against the government," he told reporters.

In Delhi, 25 people had died in April at the Jaipur Golden Hospital. Gaurav Gera, 23, and his sister Bharti lost both their parents in the tragedy. "We were pained to hear the government's statements in the parliament. My father was fine. When we got a call about his death, doctor told us about oxygen shortage," Mr Gera recalled.

"We've lost our parents but the politics is still on," he said. India saw a massive shortage of medical oxygen and hospital beds at the peak of the second wave and many nations came forward to help amid desperate appeals on social media. In Goa, over 80 people died at a state-run medical facility over five days in May. In Tirupati, Andhra Pradesh, 11 Covid patients admitted to a hospital ICU died.

India's excess deaths during the Covid pandemic could be between 3.4 to 4.9 million, according to a new report which suggests millions more may have died from the SARS-CoV-2 virus than the official count. The report, which was released on Tuesday, is co-authored by India's former chief economic adviser Arvind Subramanian, Justin Sandefur from the US-based think-tank Center for Global Development and Abhishek Anand from Harvard University.

India's excess deaths during the Covid pandemic could be between 3.4 to 4.9 million, according to a new report which suggests millions more may have died from the SARS-CoV-2 virus than the official count.

The report, which was released on Tuesday, is co-authored by India's former chief economic adviser Arvind Subramanian, Justin Sandefur from the US-based think-tank Center for Global Development and Abhishek Anand from Harvard University.