NYT report on Covid-19 death count ‘baseless and false’: Indian health ministry

India today termed a recent report in the New York Times (NYT) on the estimated Covid-19 death count in India as "completely baseless and false."

"The NYT report is not backed by any evidence and based on distorted estimates," the Health Ministry said.

The newspaper had reported a couple of days ago that "at worst, India's total Covid deaths are 14 times higher than the government count."

The Ministry said a steady decline in new Covid-19 cases has been recorded in India for the last 20 days, with 24 states witnessing a fall in active cases since the last week.

 "We are on a downswing of the second wave of Covid-19 and believe that it will be sustained even when restrictions are significantly relaxed," the Ministry said.

The Ministry also said while Covid-19 testing has increased manifold, a steady decline in weekly Covid-19 positivity rate has been seen since the last three weeks.