Thrissur & Kottayam registered over 1,000 deaths before second wave

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: While Thiruvananthapuram has long borne the title of being state’s Covid death capital, registration figures on Covid deaths in two years throw up alarming contradictions. Kottayam and Thrissur, which were never known to have startling fatality rates as per the official health data, shows Covid fatality rates (CFR) equivalent to or more than that of Thiruvananthapuram, if all the deaths from registration data are taken into account.
Officially, Kottayam has a CFR of 0.29%, one of the lowest in the state and Thrissur has CFR of 0.53%. However, Covid death registrations show that Kottayam will be the only district in the state to have a CFR of 1% and Thrissur’s CFR will match Thiruvananthapuram’s 0.9%. Going by the civil registration data, Thrissur outnumbers the capital district in terms of number of deaths as well.
An analysis of pattern of death rate in Thrissur shows that since October 2020, the district had been witnessing almost 100 Covid deaths a month till February when there was a slight let down for two following months and then all the hell broke loose during the second wave. This is how Thrissur’s Covid death registrations from October 2020 read -147(October), 115 (November), 110 (December) and 100 (January). These were months when the state was going through a phased unlock stage and witnessed local body elections.
Thrissur registered 633 Covid deaths in six months just before the outbreak of second wave. Officially, Thrissur remained under safe zone and even when all districts were immersed in election campaigns, the soaring death registrations in districts like Thrissur somehow lay buried in the registers. Between April and May, Covid death registrations in Thrissur leapt from 218 a month to 1,301.
Kottayam was another district which remained off radar. In the six months between September 2020 and April 2021, 570 Covid deaths were registered in Kottayam. The steady rise in Covid death registrations was evident since October 2020 — 86 (October), 81 ( November), 117 ( December) and 125 in January.
As much as 39% of total death registrations in Thrissur in May were Covid deaths. While Kottayam and Thrissur were supposedly in safe zone even with a huge number of monthly Covid death registrations, the soaring fatalities in Thiruvananthapuram alone remained a point of discussion.
Death toll due to Covid-19 had crossed 100 in Thiruvananthapuram in the first week of September. The district then had a mortality rate of 0.62%, which was the second highest in the state after Kannur.