Madhya Pradesh revises COVID death toll amid under-reporting allegations

Madhya Pradesh on Monday revised its COVID death count, during the second wave of the pandemic, upwards by 1,478 amid allegations of under-reporting. The death toll now stands at 10,506, up from 9,027 deaths until Sunday. Earlier, Bihar and Maharashtra had also revised its death toll in June.

In a report released in April this year, the official death toll in Bhopal was 109 while the numbers from three COVID-19 designated crematoriums and a graveyard told a different story. Their records showed more than  2,500 deaths, far more than the state’s tally for the month of April.

Amid allegations of under-reporting and attacks from the Opposition, the state government, in June, sent letters to all district officials asking them to record and report all the deaths till June 30 that had been left out of the government’s ‘Sarthak’ portal, according to the Indian Express.

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During the devastating second wave of COVID-19, that hit India hard during April-May, it was mandatory to report all positive cases, deaths  and recoveries on Sarthak. According to government officials, the under-reporting may be the result of gaps in recording by private hospitals or those under home isolation.

Earlier in June, Bihar also revised its COVID death numbers, adding 3,951 uncounted fatalities to the state’s overall tally. The addition saw India’s overall daily death numbers due to COVID  jumping to 6,148, highest since the beginning of the pandemic last year.

The Nitish Kumar government had set up two committees to audit COVID death numbers following criticism from the Opposition and  discrepancy between government and municipal corporations’ numbers.

Maharashtra’s revision of COVID  death numbers saw  Pune emerging  as the district with the highest death count in the state, overtaking Mumbai.