Guess which day saw the highest number of Covid-19 deaths in Tamil Nadu?

CHENNAI: Guess which day saw the highest number of Covid-19 deaths in Tamil Nadu? No, it was not June 16 when the medical bulletin reported 49 deaths as those were accumulated from across multiple dates.

The record high in deaths actually came on June 14, which alone saw a whopping 46 patients losing their lives to Covid-19 in Tamil Nadu, an analysis of the State's health bulletins has revealed. Further, as many as 130 Covid deaths - or little more than a fifth of the State's toll - occurred on just the three days of June 13, 14 and 15. 

The New Indian Express' analysis of the bulletins released by the Department of Public Health revealed that June 15 saw 44 deaths, the next highest single-day toll, followed by June 13 that witnessed 40 deaths. In comparison, June 11 and June 12 saw 24 and 26 deaths respectively, while June 16 saw 27 deaths. 

This means as many as 130 deaths out of the State's official toll of 576 - or 22 per cent of total deaths - as on June 17 occurred in just three days. 

Going a little further back, it emerges that 209 deaths or about 36 per cent of the State's officially recorded deaths have come in just the six days between June 11 to 16.

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A closer look at the deaths reported between June 13-15 reveals that 45 occurred at the Rajiv Gandhi Government General Hospital in Chennai, while 33 occurred in private hospitals - 32 in the city and one in neighbouring Kancheepuram district. 

The Government Stanley Hospital accounted for 32 deaths on those three days. 

While eight of the 130 deaths were reported from the Chengalpattu Medical College Hospital, two deaths in Chennai were from the ESIC medical college hospital in KK Nagar. Omandurar medical college and hospital and Kilpauk Medical College (KMC) and hospital saw three deaths each while government hospitals in Madurai, Vellore, Villupuram and Krishnagiri reported a death each between June 13-15.

Of the 46 deaths that occurred on the single day of June 14, 17 were at the Rajiv Gandhi Government General Hospital, the key tertiary care hospital for Covid care in the state, followed by 12 at Stanley and 10 at private hospitals in the city. Chengalpattu MCH reported five deaths that day while KMC and ESIC KK Nagar reported one each. 

The RGGGH had 12 deaths on June 13 and 16 deaths on June 15. 

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The spike in deaths comes even as the State government has admitted it has under-reported deaths due to a gap in communication between the Chennai Corporation and State health department. A committee is in the process of reconciling these deaths in the city, even as The New Indian Express has twice reported that deaths reported by other districts have also not yet been recorded by the State in its bulletins.

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