Dr Sudhir Gupta, professor and head of Forensic department (AIIMS), said that 100 autopsies were performed to find out the exact cause of the deaths, along with their relation with Covid-19 and its vaccines. “This was a study on sudden deaths among young adults. The Centre had asked ICMR to conduct a research on the deaths. A group of multi-disciplinary doctors was working on this study, and the Forensic department was asked to conduct the autopsies and find out the exact cause of the deaths, along with their relation with Covid-19 and its vaccines,” said Dr Gupta, adding that the research is still ongoing.

The preliminary report of one year has been submitted to ICMR, said Dr Gupta, who headed one of the three studies that ICMR has conducted.

One of these studies showed that Covid-19 vaccines are not associated with an increased risk of sudden deaths. The study, in which data from 39 network hospitals across the country were assessed, said that vaccination, in fact, brought down the risk of sudden deaths — fatalities in people who seem apparently healthy or 24 hours ago after being discharged from hospitals.

It was based on 729 deaths recorded in “healthy” people in the age group of 18 to 45, between October 2021 and March 2023. The data was compared to that of 2,916 healthy individuals of the same age, gender, and living in similar conditions.

In October 2022, Union Health Minister Dr Mansukh Mandaviya had referred to this study while cautioning people who had recovered from a severe bout of Covid-19, against exerting themselves during Garba performances.

Another study across 31 hospitals in August 2023 found that 6.5 per cent Covid-19 patients who were hospitalised had died the following year. It said that 17.5 per cent of these recovered patients faced lethargy and breathlessness.

The result of the third study, which has been analysing clotting in the age group of 18 to 45 years after being administered the Covid-19 vaccination, is awaited.