The World Health Organisation said on Thursday said that coronavirus could have killed as many as 47.4 lakh people in India in 2020 and 2021, either directly due to infection or through its indirect impact.

However, the Government of India refuted the WHO’s use of mathematical model to calculate COVID deaths, saying the “figure is totally removed from reality”. The Union health ministry called WHO’s system of data collection “statistically unsound and scientifically questionable”.

As the health body released its report on Thursday, it said that between January 2020 and December 2021, there were 4.7 million “excess” Covid deaths in India- the maximum number that’s 10 times the official figures and almost a third of COVID deaths globally. The global figure, according to the report, was 15 million- more than double the official figure of 6 million.

As per the statement by GoI, the government has repeatedly objected to the process and methodology adopted by the WHO to calculate the excess deaths. GOI had sent at least ten letters to the global organisation in this regard.