According to fresh statistics, over 75,000 individuals died in Bihar from unknown causes in the first five months of 2021, which coincided with the fatal second Covid wave. This is over ten times the state’s official pandemic death toll, prompting concerns that the state is undercounting Covid deaths.
Between January and May of this year, over 1.3 lakh fatalities were reported in Bihar. According to statistics from the state’s Civil Registration System, the figure for the same time period in 2021 was about 2.2 lakh, a difference of around 82,500. In May of this year, more over half of the 62 percent rise was recorded.
However, Bihar’s official Covid death deaths count for January to May 2021 was 7,717, which was announced earlier this month after the state added 3,951 to the total. Despite the fact that authorities have not said when these fatalities, as reported in the updated number, happened, it is presumed that they did so in 2021.
Despite this, the total number of certified Covid fatalities in the state is a fraction of the excess deaths reported by the state’s Civil Registration System — a discrepancy of 74,808 deaths to be exact.
For the time being, this discrepancy raises the issue of whether the state is still undercounting Covid fatalities, despite the updated figures.
After all, Bihar has a dreadful track record when it comes to death registration.
It is the most recent state to be suspected of undercounting. Madhya Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, and Delhi all saw similar patterns. NDTV previously reported that there were 4.8 lakh unexplained extra fatalities in just these five states.
The second Covid wave, which is just now abating, resulted in a record number of deaths and hospitalizations across the country. The associated scarcity of medical resources owing to this increase, which overloaded the medical system, exacerbated the epidemic in India.
