INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
When Narayan Mitra died on July 16, a day after being admitted to the hospital for fever and breathing difficulties, his name never appeared
on any of the official lists put out daily of those killed by the coronavirus.Test results later revealed that Mitra had indeed been
finding, which came despite national guidelines that ask states to not attribute deaths to underlying conditions in cases where Covid-19 has
been confirmed by tests.Anindita Mitra, 61, flanked by her sons Satyajit Mitra, right and Abhijit Mitra, pose with portraits of her husband
late Narayan Mitra, at her house in Silchar (AP photo)Such exclusions could explain why India, which has recorded more than 5.1 million
ministry has cited this as evidence of its success in fighting the pandemic and a basis for relaxing restrictions and reopening the economy
after Prime Minister Narendra Modi ordered a strict lockdown of the entire population earlier this year.But experts say the numbers are
Dr T Jacob John, a retired virologist.The health ministry has bristled at past allegations of an undercount in fatalities, but it refused to
comment this week on whether states were reporting all suspected and confirmed virus deaths.Determining exact numbers during the pandemic is
difficult: Countries count cases and deaths differently, and testing for the virus is uneven, making direct comparisons misleading.Workers
lift the body of a Covid-19 victim for cremation in New Delhi (AP photo)In India, recording mortality data was poor even before the pandemic
Of the 10 million estimated deaths each year, fewer than a quarter are fully documented, and only one-fifth of these are medically
This is more prevalent in rural areas, where the virus is now spreading.Dr Prabhat Jha, an epidemiologist at the University of Toronto who
has studied deaths in India, said countries should err on the side of overestimating deaths if they want to make progress in fighting the
and those from underlying illnesses
In some cities like New Delhi or Mumbai, these panels occasionally have added missed deaths to the tally.But Dr Anup Kumar Barman, who heads
guidelines and was citing the virus only in those deaths due to respiratory failure, pneumonia or blood clots, Barman added
But the guidelines list these factors as instances of how the virus can kill and are not a restrictive checklist
Barman refused to answer any follow-up questions from The Associated Press.Assam state has recorded over 147,000 infections but fewer than
500 deaths as of Wednesday.In West Bengal state, a similar panel was shelved in May and the state said it would subsequently follow federal
from natural causes from previous years is spotty
Problems in death counts have raised concerns in countries like South Africa.Meanwhile, the courts have criticised some states, like
Telangana, over transparency in sharing data about fatalities.In addition, Union health ministry guidelines in May advised hospitals against
conducting autopsies in suspected Covid-19 cases to prevent exposure to the virus
Although the guidelines say the certification can be done by doctors, experts said this also was leading to undercounting deaths.The
That has led to people letting their guard down by not taking precautions such as wearing masks or maintaining social distance, Bhan
said.Regional officials also felt pressure to play down deaths to show the health crisis was under control, said Dr SP Kalantri, director of
diseases, he said.Maharashtra state health director Archana Patil said this had been a problem in some districts at first, but officials
people were being cremated every day, compared with five or six before the pandemic.A cremation normally takes about 45 minutes, but Soni
