India's true COVID-19 death toll has likely surpassed 3 million, study finds

Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, official death tolls in many places have likely fallen short of the true figures, but a new study from the Center for Global Development suggests that the undercount in India may be particularly drastic, The New York Times reports.

The Indian government's official fatality count currently sits at more than 400,000, a grim figure in its own right. However, researchers estimate that between 3.4 million and 4.7 million more people than would normally be expected died between January 2020 and June 2021 in India. While the precise number of excess deaths that can be attributed to COVID-19 may never be known, the authors of the study believe it's higher than 3 million. "True deaths are likely to be in the several millions not hundreds of thousands, making this arguably India's worst human tragedy," the authors said. Read more at The New York Times.

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