What Are The Independent Sources Saying About COVID Deaths In India?
India reported its highest single-day increase in COVID-19 deaths as cases stayed below 3,00,000 for the third straight day.On Wednesday, health ministry data showed at least 4,529 people succumbed to the disease over a 24-hour period as 2,67,334 new cases were registered.India has reported more than 25 million cases and over 283,000 deaths so far.
Reasons for undercounting deaths
But experts suggest the figures undercount the actual toll as testing is limited in some places, particularly in rural areas currently experiencing a surge in cases. Many patients who have died at home ¡ª due to hospitals running out of beds ¡ª are also typically left out of the official tally.
Others that may not be included in the total count are those dying of COVID complications -- cardiac arrest being the most common, Pneumonia, other cardiovascular diseases, Coagulation regulation, collapse of respiratory system, and nervous system.
In an article dated May 11, 2021, BBC reported that?Sandesh, a 98-year-old Gujarati language newspaper, has been publishing a daily count of the dead, which is usually several times more than the official figure.
How? Let's find out.
So the newspaper decided to do some old-fashioned shoe-leather journalism, BBC reported. On the evening of 11 April, two reporters and a photographer staked out the mortuary of the 1,200-bed state-run Covid-19 hospital in Ahmedabad. Over 17 hours, they counted 69 body bags coming out of a single exit before they were loaded into waiting ambulances. Next day, Gujarat officially counted 55 deaths, including 20 from Ahmedabad.
Over 200 dead vs 25 reported
On the night of 16 April, the journalists drove 150 km around Ahmedabad and visited 21 cremation grounds. There they counted body bags and pyres, examined registers, spoke to cremation workers, looked at "slips" which assigned the cause of death, and took photographs and recorded videos. They found that most of the deaths were attributed to "illness", although the bodies were being handled under rigorous protocols.
At the end of the night the team had counted more than 200 bodies.?But the next day, Ahmedabad counted only 25 deaths.All of April, Sandesh's intrepid reporters diligently counted the dead in seven cities. On 21 April, they counted 753 deaths, the highest single-day tally since the deadly second wave washed over the western state. On a number of other days, they counted in excess of 500 deaths. On 5 May, the paper counted 83 deaths in Vadodara. The official figure was 13.
689 cremated vs 94 reported
But reportage by other newspapers has stood up the alleged under-counting, BBC reported. The English language Hindu newspaper, for example, reported it had information that 689 bodies were cremated or buried in the seven cities following Covid-19 protocols on 16 April, when the official death toll for the entire state was 94.?It has not only been Gujarat's story. The official numbers mismatches the reality on ground and even the crematorium numbers at times.
Similarly, other publications, mostly regional, have been doggedly calling out the state governments across the country for glaring gaps in death reporting. And, international media has been regularly taking a stock, diligently reporting the difference in numbers.
"Real caseload could be 30 times higher"
On April 28, 2021, The Economist in an article said, "The real caseload could be ten or even 30 times higher, and the number of deaths much more, too." The headline read,?Are Indian statistics understating covid-19 cases and deaths?
In another article with the headline?As Covid-19 Devastates India, Deaths Go Undercounted, the New York Times on April 24, 2021, reported that interviews from cremation grounds across the country, where the fires never stop, portray an extensive pattern of deaths far exceeding the official figures.
Massacre of data, says expert
The article further read, "Nervous politicians and hospital administrators may be undercounting or overlooking large numbers of dead, analysts say. And grieving families may be hiding Covid connections as well, out of shame, adding to the confusion in this enormous nation of 1.4 billion."
¡°It¡¯s a complete massacre of data,¡± said Bhramar Mukherjee, an epidemiologist at the University of Michigan who has been following India closely.
India, like the other developed and underdeveloped nations, has preferred to underreport or undercount COVID-19 deaths, claims a new study by the University of Washington¡¯s Institute for Health Metrics & Evaluation (IHME) that was released on May 14, 2021.
Undercounted 4.3 lakh deaths, tells study
IHME analysed and published in their study titled, ¡®Estimation of total mortality due to Covid-19¡¯, that India may have underreported or undercounted 4.3 lakh deaths.?The study also found that the US may have undercounted death numbers by 3.4 lakhs, Russia by nearly 5.93 lakh.The study analysed data from 20 countries with the highest numbers of total COVID-19 deaths from March 2020 to May 2021.
Remember, the Indian Council for Medical Research (ICMR) has framed guidelines for the Cause of Death (COD) due to COVID-19 but it is not being followed by the States for many reasons. The primary reason as told by officials to the Scroll is ¡®only deaths of persons who tested positive prior to death and died soon after of causes easily identified with COVID-19 were being counted as COVID deaths¡¯.?
