India is being ravaged by an unforgiving second wave of the Covid-19 pandemic. Infections and death tolls are rampant. The general mood of the nation, particularly in high caseload states is that almost everyone is infected. Every alternate person which people seem to know has either tested positive or displayed symptoms of the infection. Many are not getting themselves tested for Covid-19, and are restricting themselves to their homes. Self-medication, clustered residencies and an aversion to hospitals seem to be making matters all the more terrible. For those suffering, the present times are nothing short of a nightmare sequence.
Covid-related deaths seem to be much more than the daily figures that are officially being reported. At the local level, the data of individuals dying due to Covid-19 seems to be getting compromised. Most striking is the unanimity of various states to have an ambiguous and rather haphazard system of identifying Covid deaths. In Delhi, for instance, reportedly only those bodies brought to crematoriums from hospitals or temporary facilities are counted as Covid-related fatalities. If deceased infected people are brought for cremation from their homes, they are not recorded as Covid-caused deaths. If relatives persist that the individuals succumbed to Covid-19, the death is recorded in a ‘suspected’ column.
According to NDTV, the Delhi government has stated that 1,938 Covid-related deaths have been recorded in the national capital between April 18 and April 24. On the other hand, data collected from the Municipal Corporation of Delhi for 26 crematoriums it runs, shows that 3,096 cremations of Covid victims were conducted in the said period. In Delhi’s crematoriums, getting a spot to conduct the last rites of a loved one is just as difficult, if not more, than finding a bed for patients in a medical facility while they are alive. Crematoriums are now having to construct additional platforms for tackling the unending number of dead bodies which are being brought in for cremations.
In Maharashtra, the situation is not normal by any stretch of one’s imagination. Pune seems to be heavily underreporting Covid-fatalities, and the BJP has taken upon itself to reveal the horrifying statistics of Covid-deaths from across the city. BJP corporator Seema Savale has alleged that the Pune Municipal Corporation has tried hiding 979 deaths in April alone.“In the last 23 days, from April 1 to 23, the last rites of 1,820 people, who died of Covid-19, was carried out. However, the PCMC in its press release has claimed that during the same 23-day period, 841 deaths have occurred,” she said.
The BJP corporator and her team are known to have personally analysed the functioning of at least four major crematoriums in Pune for a period of 23 days. On April 1, the PCMC reportedly put out a figure of 2,851 deaths. And on April 23, it released a report mentioning 3,692 deaths. Savale, therefore, said, “This means, in the 23-day period, the PCMC claims that 841 people died. However, in the registers kept at all the four crematoriums, the collective figure is 1,820. We suspect the PCMC is trying to hide figures… In this case, at least 979 deaths have not been accounted for.”
The situation in Uttar Pradesh hardly seems any better. In Lucknow, UP’s capital city, the official number of Covid deaths between April 11 to April 16 stood at 145. However, as per Bloomberg, just two of the city’s main crematoriums reported more than 430 or three times as many cremations under Covid-19 protocol in that period, according to eyewitnesses and workers.
Even Sky News was allegedly informed by a crematorium worker from Ghaziabad that they’ve “been told to give that (lower) number by higher authorities”. This, after reporters, saw first hand at least 25 bodies waiting to be cremated, and 8 pyres already lit. Yet, the crematorium worker maintained that only 6 cremations take place in the said site in Ghaziabad.
As a matter of fact, underreporting of deaths is being witnessed across all states in the country. It is about time that the process of registering Covid-deaths is made less haphazard. The Central government must step in and ensure that states follow a uniform code of identifying Covid-fatalities. Whether the bodies come from hospitals or homes is insignificant. Unclarity in death is deserved by no Indian, and certainly not by the loved ones they leave behind.