Kerala To Add 7,000 Unaccounted Covid Deaths To State Tally

The unaccounted COVID-19 numbers were an outcome of the review of deaths by the state level medical board.

Medical professionals are taking the corpse of a COVID-19 patient for cremation

Chennai: The Kerala government will add 7,000 unaccounted Covid-19 deaths into the state's death tally on Saturday as there were speculations of alleged under-reporting. With this addition, the state's Covid death toll is expected to increase from 26,000 to 33,000 on Saturday. 

According to a report on PTI, the Kerala Health Minister Veena George said, almost 7,000 deaths have gone unreported in the official data and if still complaints exist then the Health Department will once again open and look into them. 

The revised list of 7,000 unaccounted Covid deaths are those reported till June second week. The hospitals from mid June have started to directly upload the Covid-19 deaths online.

The state conducted a review into the number of reported deaths and found that there are unaccounted Covid deaths. 

However, on Friday, when the issue of underreporting came up in the Assembly, the Health Minister refused the Opposition's allegation to be true that a large number of Covid victims were denied compensation that was directed by Supreme Court.

Minister said that no deserving family will be denied financial aid and also recalled that Kerala was the first in the country to set up Covid Death Assessment Committees as per the revised guidelines of the Union government and to speeden the process of providing Covid-19 death certificates.

Kerala on Friday reported 10,944 fresh Covid cases and 120 deaths. The new cases have increased the active caseload in the state to 1,16,645 patients. Till now, 47,74,666 people tested positive for Covid in Kerala.