India was a hotspot for the corona pandemic for weeks.
According to authorities, more than 400,000 people fell victim to Covid-19.
But experts assume a much higher number.
New Delhi - According to calculations by experts, a number of people many times higher than officially stated could have died in India during the corona pandemic.
The US think tank Center for Global Development estimates based on several sources an excess mortality of 3.4 to 4.9 million additional deaths since the beginning of the pandemic in the hard hit country compared to the number of deaths before the pandemic.
However, the researchers emphasized that they did not draw any conclusions about the causes of death.
According to official figures, more than 414,000 people with corona have died in India so far.
However, especially in connection with the violent second wave of pandemics in the 1.3 billion-inhabitant country, several experts assume a high number of unreported cases.
The authors projected published death rates from seven states, where about half the population lives. To do this, they evaluated antibody tests in India with international estimates of age-specific death rates of infected people and used regular surveys of around 177,000 households, which also asked whether someone had recently died.
The situation in India had worsened dramatically in April and May, among other things in connection with the delta variant of the corona virus, which was first discovered there. In a few days, 400,000 new infections were reported. Hospitals were sometimes so overloaded that people died in parking lots in front of them, the medical oxygen ran out and relatives had to wait even at the crematoria. In the meantime, the situation has eased again. Between 30,000 and 40,000 new corona cases are reported every day. However, given a low vaccination rate and a return to normal, experts warn of a third wave. dpa