New Delhi, March 15 : A total of 458,186 deaths occurred due to Covid-19 between March 2020 till October 31, 2021, the government informed the Rajya Sabha on Tuesday. Rajya Sabha member Rajamani Patel wanted to know how many people died due to the pandemic in India and how much assistance was given by government to the families of those who died. “The government through the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) has recommended an ex-gratia amount of Rs 50,000 per deceased person subject to cause of death certified as Covid-19. Ex-gratia assistance is provided by States from State Disaster Response Fund and distribution of relief is the responsibility of the States or UTs government concerned,” Minister of State for Health and Family Welfare Bharati Pravin Parmar said in a written reply. The report by an acclaimed medical journal The Lancet has claimed that India’s estimated cumulative Covid-19 deaths between January 2020 and December 2021 were around eight times higher than reported. The Centre has called The Lancet report speculative and said the authors had admitted to several methodology flaws and inconsistencies. ASU MR