THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The pandemic situation in the state has changed for good except for the high number of daily deaths reported. Even when it is found that the high death numbers were mainly due to people who are not vaccinated, health experts have found that death reporting has improved since June.
The recent Supreme Court verdict to provide compensation of `50,000 to families of victims who died of Covid has led to more families demanding deaths to be declared as due to Covid. The demand has become such that it has resulted in “over-reporting” which is likely to grow, according to health experts.
Health experts who have complained of under-reporting of Covid deaths said the situation has changed for the better from an epidemiological perspective. “Earlier a Covid death was much of a hassle for the relatives to conduct funerals. They saw no benefit in getting the Covid death declaration. But the SC verdict has changed the situation. They have now started demanding the inclusion of the deceased in the list even if the person who tested positive died of other causes,” said Dr Anish T S, a member of the Covid management committee and assistant professor at the Department of Community Medicine, Thiruvananthapuram Government Medical College Hospital.
“It is tough to determine if the death was due to Covid or other factors. But the consideration given to include it in Covid death is a good practice. But it naturally leads to over-reporting,” he said.
However, not all are convinced that the department has started reporting deaths liberally. “The under-reporting of deaths has reduced from last year. A close observation of deaths reported from various districts shows that there is still 15-20 per cent under-reporting happening in the state,” said internal medicine specialist and public health activist Dr N M Arun.
Faced with criticism over under-reporting, the health department introduced a portal to report all Covid deaths at the district level on June 14. It was noted that the number of deaths became steady since then even after the government increased vaccination coverage to reduce deaths.
The government has also agreed to include deaths excluded from the list with retrospective effect. The families can get medical certificates from the health department to make claims for inclusion in the list. It is yet to announce the list, even when unconfirmed reports said around 8,000 such deaths would be added to the final list.