The COVID-19 death numbers in Mumbai and the rest of Maharashtra has seen a huge surge today (Tuesday) due to the data reconciliation process by the government. The numbers rose by 862 in Mumbai and 466 in the rest of Maharashtra, and now the death toll in the state is 5,510 from 4,128 on Monday.
The Maharashtra government had on Monday admitted that there were discrepancies in the data released on COVID-19. Several instances had emerged of deaths being accounted under comorbidity instead of the virus. Therefore, the state government had asked all the district collectors and municipal commissioners to reconcile the number of deaths by Monday evening.
Under the provisions of the Epidemic Act, 1897, they had been told to report all deaths, irrespective of the cause, if found positive for the virus.
On the issue of discrepancies in the COVID-19 data, Chief Secretary Ajoy Mehta told the Free Press Journal, “A total of 1,382 additional deaths will be added to the COVID-19 death toll of the state. These were deaths of COVID patients and were marked as non-COVID."
According to the new data, Mumbai has reported 862 unaccounted COVID-19 deaths and 466 in the rest of Maharashtra. The district-wise numbers are: Ahmednagar - 1, Akola - 14, Amravati - 6, Aurangabad - 33, Buldhana - 2, Dhule - 12, Jalgaon - 34, Jalna - 4, Latur - 3, Nanded - 2, Nashik - 28, Usmanabad - 3, Palghar - 11, Parbhani - 1, Pune - 85, Raigad - 14, Ratnagiri - 1, Sangli - 4, Sindhadurg - 3, Solapur - 41, Thane - 146, Washim -1 and Yawatmal - 1.
On Monday, Mehta had said the government would not hide any data, but reveal it after the reconciliation exercise. He had reiterated that the government will take action against those who were responsible for hiding data on COVID-19 deaths.
