The second wave of COVID-19 in 2021 was one of the worst health crises India has ever faced. Hospitals were full, oxygen was scarce, and many families lost loved ones. But new government data shows that the true number of deaths was far higher than what was officially reported.
The Civil Registration System (CRS) data reveals that India saw nearly 20 lakh more deaths in 2021 than expected. But the government reported only 3.3 lakh Covid deaths that year. This means the actual number may have been six times higher.
In some states, the gap was even worse. Gujarat officially reported about 5,800 Covid deaths, but the actual number of extra deaths was close to 2 lakh — that’s over 33 times more. Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, and West Bengal also saw many more deaths than were reported as Covid-related.
This undercounting happened for many reasons — poor healthcare systems, not enough testing, and in some cases, hiding the true numbers. But the result is the same: millions of people died without being counted as Covid victims. Their families didn’t get support or recognition.
Another government report showed that Covid-19 was the second biggest cause of death in 2021 among those with medical certificates. But only 23% of deaths were officially certified, so the real numbers could be even higher. Even in this small sample, 4.1 lakh deaths were confirmed as due to Covid — more than the total number the government claimed for the whole country.
These gaps raise important questions. Was India really prepared for a crisis like this? Do we have the health systems needed to respond in such emergencies?
The pandemic exposed serious weaknesses in how deaths are tracked in our country. Many people may have died without getting proper medical care. Others may not have been tested, and their deaths were never linked to COVID-19. Some may have had their cause of death wrongly listed.
-Team CFA