Backlog Deaths? What’s Making Odisha Top 3rd State In Daily COVID Toll

Bhubaneswar: Odisha has surpassed 10 states to become the third-top state with the maximum number of daily COVID-19 deaths in India.

It only trails behind Maharashtra and Kerala in this count. In fact, the three states together have been contributing nearly 75% of the daily COVID toll reported in the country for over a week now.

Notably, Odisha’s total COVID toll went up to 5,172 on Tuesday with 56 new deaths reported in the past 24 hours.

The state government has, however, brushed aside concerns over the high number of deaths in recent days, claiming the toll had jumped due to inclusion of backlog cases from May and June.

According to a clarification by the Health Department, the toll does not reflect deaths occurring on a particular day. It gives details of past deaths for which an audit has been completed and the cause of death is confirmed as COVID-19.

However, health experts have criticised the government’s strategy as faulty.

“When the bodies of COVID patients were lying in queues at crematoriums, the government figures did not cross 20. Now, as the cases are down and cremation grounds are less stressed, Odisha is among the top-three states. This has exposed the faulty model adopted by the state,” former consultant with ICMR Dr Tribhuban Mohan Mohapatra was quoted as saying by The New Indian Express.

The audited fatalities, however, do not include COVID-infected patients who died due to co-morbid conditions. It also doesn’t include deaths of patients who recovered from the disease or those who died on way to a hospital.

If all those deaths are calculated, the number would be at least three times more, experts said.