Unlike claims made by the Indian government in its press release, the WHO's estimates do not rely on models that include factors like seasonal variations in temperature, Jon Wakefield, professor of statistics and biostatistics at the University of Washington, who had led the modelling for India as a member of the TAG, explained
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India has called into question the methodology used by the WHO to calculate its death toll from Covid-19. Jon Wakefield, a professor of statistics and biostatistics at the University of Washington who was one of those involved in the modelling for the WHO, released a statement that explained the methodology in detail and rebutted the claims made by the Indian government about the veracity of the modelling.
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Jon Wakefield, UW professor of statistics and biostatistics who played a key role in building the model used for estimates of the World Health Organization global data of COVID death estimates is quoted in this story and says the numbers represent what statisticians and researchers call “excess mortality” — the difference between all deaths that occurred and those that would have been expected to occur under normal circumstances.