290 more deaths in Chennai from June 11 to July 5 yet to make it to TN coronavirus count

CHENNAI: At least 290 Covid-19 deaths in Chennai between June 11 and July 5 haven’t been included in Tamil Nadu’s toll. This is in addition to the 256 deaths from March to June 10 that had not been added to the state toll. If all these deaths are counted, Chennai’s case fatality rate goes up to 2.3% from the present 1.6%. As of Tuesday, the official Covid-19 death toll in the city is 1,295.
That 290 deaths were left out was discovered by the Greater Chennai Corporation while reconciling data from the city’s burial and cremation grounds. On July 10, city health officer Dr M Jagadeesan wrote to the director of public health Dr T S Selva Vinayagam with details of the 290 deaths that occurred between June 11 and July 5.
Health department officials said the directorate of public health found that 188 people on the list of 290 had tested positive. But they weren’t sure about the remaining 102 deceased as either they hadn’t been tested for Covid-19 or the test results couldn’t be located during the preliminary search.
Health minister C Vijayabaskar told TOI that the state was working with transparency. “We will be adding the deaths to the state record soon,” he said.
A preliminary review by officials on Monday showed that a majority of these patients were either brought dead to hospitals or died soon after admission. The hospitals – both government and private -- handed over the bodies to the families and asked them to carry out burial or cremation as per the Covid-19 protocol in the presence of a health official or sanitary inspector. However, when the test results turned positive for the viral infection the hospitals concerned did not report it to the civic agency or health department, officials said. Some deaths also happened at home, they added.
“All these deaths will be added to the state toll,” said health secretary J Radhakrishnan. And to minimise delays and errors, the state has formed a permanent reconciliation committee that will meet every week to review deaths, he said.
“In the last three weeks we have been updating our records and it was during this process we discovered these 290 deaths. We have submitted it for reconciliation,” a senior health official in the Greater Chennai Corporation said.
WHO has provided codes for Covid-19 deaths -- U07.1 for all Covid-19 deaths and U07.2 for probable Covid-19 deaths. In the second case, Covid-19 virus is not identified through tests, but doctors have clinically or epidemiologically diagnosed and suspect the virus.