3,000+ COVID-19 Deaths Added to Mumbai’s Tally in June

Just under two weeks ago, Maharashtra added 1,328 COVID-19 deaths to its total tally indicating at serious discrepancies in the reporting of official numbers. It has now come to light that not much has changed in this regard, while the situation may be getting worse.

The BMC’s (Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation) individual ward officials have been talking to the families of deceased patients to confirm if they have indeed passed away. In their reporting, it was found that some patients didn’t even belong to their ward, while some were even said to be alive, suggesting that there are serious shortcomings in the reporting. A total of 3,184 deaths have been added to Mumbai’s tally as of June 29.

Additionally, it is said that several deaths that have been confirmed by the ICMR are yet to be reported to the wards. A ward officer said - “We have called up each of those mentioned on the list and are trying to confirm deaths. The ward office was not aware and therefore these deaths were not reflected in our records.”

Defending its stance, another official added, “We have been communicating deaths as and when reported to us by hospitals, but if no report is submitted to us, how would the ward know?” 

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Last week, the BMC gave a reminder to all hospitals asking them to provide pending death reports by June 29. Deputy Chief Executive Health Officer, Dr Daksha Shah later said that the verification of these deaths take time and hence the reports are pending. 

MLA Rais Shaikh (SP) said that there have been irregularities in the reporting of COVID-19 positive cases as well, adding that there’s no appointed nodal officer to keep track of the data.

To iron out these issues, BMC has now given every hospital 24 hours to report COVID-19 deaths. The reports will be shared in the form of Google Sheets and there is a nodal officer assigned to make note of the discrepancies. This new system is to come in effect from July 1

Meanwhile, Mumbai’s coronavirus cases tally is increasing each day, leading the State Government to announce a further lockdown until July 31.