Part II: Serious mismatch in mortality data between official figures, ground reality

As COVID-19 cases surge in highly Covid-affected states, crematoriums and burial grounds have been flooded with bodies piling up every day. People are waiting as long as 6-8 hours for the cremation. However, official death figures tell a different story.

Hyderabad: How dangerous is the second wave of coronavirus in the country can be gauged only from the fact that for the last three days, over two lakh new cases of Covid-19 are being reported every day. As per the data released by the Health Ministry, over 1,000 have lost their lives every day during the last three days. However, these data are under question as there is a mismatch of figures between the number of bodies being burnt or buried at the cremation grounds and the data about Covid-19 deaths being released by the governments.

ETV Bharat conducted a reality check and found serious irregularities between the official data and the number of bodies being cremated on a daily basis.

In this second series of the report, ETV Bharat is trying to bring out the real picture in Gujarat and Maharashtra by collating data from different cities. In the first report, we had discussed the ground realities in Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Delhi.

In these states, the data from a couple of cremation grounds was puncturing the government claims as there was a mismatch between what is being claimed and what is in the public domain.

Maharashtra

Like the first wave of the coronavirus, the second wave has affected Maharashtra the most. On average, more than 60 thousand cases are being reported in Maharashtra every day. More than 63 thousand new cases and 398 deaths have been reported in the last 24 hours.

COVID related deaths in Maharashtra

On April 9, as many as 49 people were cremated at Amardham crematorium in Ahmednagar. On the other hand, the government claimed only three people died due to corona in the Ahmednagar district. On the same day, the official figure of those who died of Covid-19 in Maharashtra was 301. The ETV Bharat ground report only shows the figure of one crematorium in Maharashtra's Ahmednagar.

Gujarat

Even in Gujarat, the cases of coronavirus infections have been increasing continuously for the last two weeks. In the last 24 hours, 8,920 new cases have been reported and 94 people have died in Gujarat.

COVID related deaths in Gujarat

On April 15, 20 dead bodies were cremated at Kumbharwada cemetery in Bhavnagar, Gujarat. There are three more cremation grounds in Bhavnagar where dead bodies are cremated every day. On the other hand, according to the official figures, not a single person died of coronavirus in Bhavnagar on April 15.

According to Arvind Parmar, trustee of Kubharwara cemetery, 15 to 20 dead bodies get cremated in the Kumbharwada cemetery on a daily basis including those who died from the coronavirus.

Questions raised on the 'fishy' data

ETV Bharat has some questions to the governments concerned

It is to be noted that 49 bodies were cremated at only one crematorium in Ahmednagar. There must be many more cremation grounds in the Ahmednagar district and the number of cremation grounds and cemeteries in the entire state of Maharashtra and the last rites performed there can only be estimated.

Admittedly, there can be other diseases, accidents or natural causes behind the cause of death. It would also be grossly incorrect to say that all the dead bodies that are being cremated at the cremation grounds of Ahmednagar, Bhavnagar or other cities of Maharashtra and Gujarat, died due to the coronavirus. But way in every 24 hours the number of coronavirus infections is increasing and reports of cremation of those who died of coronavirus are coming from towns and cities of different states, it puts a big question mark on the government figures about corona deaths.