In 2015, the media reported, quoting surveillance data, that dengue fever–caused by a virus transmitted by mosquito bite–killed 60 people in Delhi. However, government of Delhi data on medically certified deaths–largely unknown to the media–reveal the dengue death toll to be 486, or eight times the media estimate.
It is now apparent that both figures are underestimates because even the mortality data source–listed under what is called Report on Medical Certification of Cause of Death–is confined to 62.7% of registered deaths in hospital settings during 2015 in Delhi, a city of 17 million that reliably registers all deaths.
This means the dengue death toll was higher than 486 because domiciliary deaths, or deaths taking place at homes, which comprise the 37.3% outside hospitals, were not accounted for.
