Over 200 epidemiologists, public health professionals, journalists and activists have written a letter urging government agencies to release data on registered deaths from the civil registration system to better track COVID-19 deaths. This, they say, will help them track excess deaths because of coronavirus, in comparison to deaths during the previous years. This will also help the authorities to make informed decisions in dealing with the pandemic and gaps in the public health system. We spoke with former Health Secretary K Sujatha Rao, Dr Giridhar R Babu, Professor and Head, Lifecourse Epidemiology at Public Health Foundation of India, Bengaluru.
