A World Health Organization report on excess Covid-19-linked global deaths will be released this week.

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The proposed report has already stirred a hornet’s nest, as the methodology to arrive at India’s Covid deaths is contested by local health authorities. The WHO has constantly maintained that Covid deaths are under-reported, by about three times, across the world. They peg that at eight times more in some countries, including India. Several researchers in India have also arrived at similar numbers. The figures are from between January 2020 and December 2021, and expose the gaps in Covid death reporting, which need to be addressed.