BHUBANESWAR: At least 8711 people succumbed to Covid-19 in Odisha during the first wave of the pandemic in 2020. The figure is more than four times of the death numbers released by the State government. The data on medical certification of cause of death (MCCD) released by the Office of Registrar General on Wednesday revealed Covid-19 deaths accounted for 2.4 per cent (pc) of medically certified deaths in the State.
Deaths related to coronavirus have been featured at third slot among the nine major causes of deaths. As per registered medically certified deaths, Maharashtra has recorded the highest 17.7 pc medically certified Covid deaths, Manipur (15.7 pc), Uttar Pradesh (15 pc), Himachal Pradesh (13.5 pc), Uttarakhand (12.8 pc), Andhra Pradesh (12 pc), Punjab (11.9 pc and Delhi (10.8 pc).
The disease of the circulatory system accounted for the highest 21.4 pc deaths in Odisha, followed by certain conditions originating in perinatal period (13 pc), diseases of the respiratory system (12.3 pc), certain infectious and parasitic diseases (6.4 pc), endocrine, nutritional and metabolic diseases (4.9 pc) and injury, poisoning and certain other consequences of external causes (4.9 pc).
The State had recorded 3,62,982 deaths in 2020. An analysis of the data revealed, Odisha had seen a sharp spike in overall deaths during the period from September to December in the year as compared to the previous years.
The September-December period of 2020 had witnessed the highest Covid deaths in the State as the peak of 4,356 cases were recorded on September 25. However, the State government had declared only 1,876 Covid deaths in 2020 triggering suspicion among health experts.