New Delhi, May 6 (IANS): After the WHO released its report on the Covid deaths, the Congress on Friday demanded the constitution of a Covid commission and a compensation of Rs 4 lakh each to the families who lost their members in the pandemic.
Addressing a press conference, Congress spokesperson Gaurav Vallabh said, "Heeding to our demand for the last two years, the government must immediately form a Covid commission with members from all parties to analyze the deaths that happened due to unavailability of Oxygen, broken supply chain in case of vaccines and medicines and plan for better management during such pandemics and pay Rs 4 lakhs to the families of the people who have died due to Covid. If it can't provide the medical care and facilities, this is the least the Modi government can do to pay respects."
The Congress spokesperson said the Modi government has let India down on the World Stage once again as the mismanagement of the Covid pandemic by the BJP government is not hidden from anyone.
He said the apathetic attitude has been evident all along. "The nation saw people gasping for oxygen during the second wave... India was shamed at the world stage when pictures of the bodies floating were circulated in the International Media."
Referring to the WHO report, he said it has exposed the death toll in India due to Covid between January 1, 2020 and December 31, 2021.
He said as per the government data, there has been only 5.24 lakh deaths due to Covid in India so far, but the few key points highlighted by the WHO report are that the world saw 1.49 crore excess deaths associated with the pandemic in 2020 and 2021. One in three deaths in the world due to Covid happened in India. India had 47 lakh deaths due to Covid-19 between January 2020 and December 2021.
He said amongst the nations with the highest ratio of excess deaths in 2020 and 2021 as compared to the official reported Covid-19 deaths, India is ranked second with a ratio of 9.9x, behind Egypt (11.6x) and ahead of Pakistan (8x) and almost half of the deaths that until now had not been counted globally were in India.