12 lakh excess deaths in Covid year, estimates study; govt says methodology flawed

Oxford’s 12 lakh excess death estimate using NFHS 2019-21 data, rejected by India’s health ministry as ‘gross and misleading,’ showed a 2.6-year life expectancy decline, particularly affecting Muslims (5.4 years). Union health ministry Saturday criticised the methodology of taking a subset of households included in the NFHS survey between Jan and April 2021, and comparing the mortality in these households in 2020 with 2019, and then extrapolating the results to the entire country.