1.12 times in Kerala to 2.86 times in Madhya Pradesh: April-May death surge looms over Covid death count

Wednesday, 4 August 2021Newsdesk

How many people died of Covid during the brutal second wave in April and May? That question is key to not only understanding the scale of the unprecedented health tragedy but also to framing a policy prescription for any future re-surge. There’s a practical imperative too — by August 14, the Centre needs to get back to the Supreme Court on how it plans to pay compensation to the next of kin of those who lost their lives to Covid-19.

New Delhi, 04 August 2021

As per news report of The Indian Express, One ready answer is 1.69 lakh — the official Covid-19 death count for the two months reported by state governments to the Centre. An investigation by The Indian Express team of reporters suggests that there is an undercount. But exactly how much may never be known — it can only be estimated and, that too, in at least a year given the way India counts its dead (see report). As part of the investigation, the newspaper approached several state governments of whom eight — these account for almost a third of all Covid deaths as of last week — provided records of deaths they have registered in April and May this year as per the Civil Registration System (CRS).

Source -indianexpress.com