The Tamil Nadu government on Wednesday said that a committee has been constituted to investigate the discrepancies in coronavirus deaths in...
The Tamil Nadu government on Wednesday said that a committee has been constituted to investigate the discrepancies in coronavirus deaths in Chennai, PTI reported. This came after an inspection done by the state’s Department of Public Health revealed that the Greater Chennai Corporation had recorded at least 236 more Covid-19 deaths in comparison to the state register till Monday, according to The Times of India.
If the figures from the civic body registry are added to the official toll, it would double Tamil Nadu’s coronavirus fatality rate from 0.7% to 1.5%, the newspaper reported. So far, the state has reported 326 deaths till Wednesday. Of these, Chennai accounts for 260 deaths.
A nine-member committee will now audit all the coronavirus related deaths in Chennai. Officials in the state blamed the difference in figures on a “procedural lapse” as there was no system to report deaths recorded in the Chennai civic authority’s registry to the government on a daily basis, The Indian Express reported.
Health Secretary Beela Rajesh denied allegations that the state government had deliberately “fudged” numbers to show less deaths. “We don’t have to hide the death data, we cannot do that,” she added. “We have been accurately reporting all Covid-19 deaths as reported from hospitals in the public and...
