E-Paper
Covid cases double Pune city’s 2021 death count as compared to previous year
Pune: In a year, the city’s death count almost doubled because of intense Covid-19 infection
Pune: In a year, the city’s death count almost doubled because of intense Covid-19 infection. As per the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC), the city registered 11,870 deaths, including accidents and natural deaths, between January and May 2020. However, for the same period in 2021, the city saw 22,748 which is almost double the previous year. Although deaths due to Covid infection started to be reported in the city from April 2020, only a nominal number of deaths due to the infection were reported in April and May 2020. The data also showed a stark disparity in the number of deaths reported by the state department due to Covid as compared to the numbers reported by the civic body during the months of January to May for the 2021.
As per the civic body data, Pune city reported 11,870 deaths from private and government hospitals covering all 15 wards. These deaths could vary as the data is collected from wards who then have to upload it on their centralised system. Dr Kalpana Baliwant, PMC assistant health officer, said, “The numbers of deaths registered for the actual period may vary as the data needs to be uploaded by the wards on the centralised system. Also, the information of occurrence of the event can be reported within 21 days and delayed registration up to one year.”
In 2020, the city saw nearly half the number of deaths reported in 2021 in these five months. In January 2020, 3,071 deaths were reported, in February 2102, in March 2,492, in April 1,712 and in May 2,493 were reported. The city saw the first death reported from Pune city due to the infection on April 1 when a Thane resident was reported dead from a private hospital in Pune city.
For the same months in 2021, the number of deaths rose by 52% when 22,748 deaths were reported. The major contributor being Covid infection. In January, the city saw 3,028 deaths of which 221 were due to Covid, in February 2,497 deaths were reported of which 193 were due to Covid, in March 3,785 with 783 Covid-related, and April saw peak of Covid cases and deaths as PMC registered 7,656, of which 4,055 were due to Covid which were more than non-Covid deaths. In May, the city saw 5,785 deaths of which 2,903 were due to Covid.
Dr Baliwant said that irrespective of the residence, the person’s place of death or birth is where the “event” is registered. This could have possibly led to a major surge as Pune hospital also saw an influx of patients from neighbouring villages which are out of Pune city limits and also neighboring districts for tertiary Covid care and in case of their death, the death was registered in PMC records.
Dr Baliwant said, “As per the birth and death registration act, it is the job of the private or government hospital to inform the local ward office about the event, birth or death, who then update the centralised system at Kasba peth.”
The data disparity with respect to deaths recorded by the local administration and the state government was also evident from the data. As per the state records for Covid-19 cases and deaths, Pune city reported 2,376 deaths due to the infection between January 1 and May 30 while the PMC reported 8,155 deaths due to Covid alone in the city for the same period.
To overcome the disparity, the state department has been reconciling deaths due to Covid after it was found that the reporting and recording of deaths due to the infection are lagging. The difference of deaths reported by PMC and the state highlights the gap in reporting or under-reporting of deaths. In April alone, PMC recorded 4,055 deaths due to Covid when the infection was at its peak in the city. The reconciliation process began from June and is still ongoing.
