Mumbai: Spurt in COVID-19 fatalities, BMC begins audit

For five consecutive days in a row, the financial capital registered more than 20 COVID-19 deaths, forcing the BrihanMumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) to call for an audit of these fatalities starting Monday.

The number of deaths recorded on July 5 was 10, lowest since July 24 (when 10 deaths were reported). The civic body has expressed fear that the number of deaths might once again increase in the next few days.

From the first week of June, the number of deaths reported daily started fluctuating between 15 and 25 on an average. It began to decline by mid-June. Later on June 21, the city for the last time recorded fatalities in a single digit. Thereafter, the number of deaths reported was always in double digits. However, starting June 30, for six consecutive days, it has crossed 20.

The number of deaths on June 29 was 12 deaths, it was 18 on June 28 and 13 on June 27. On Friday, Mumbai recorded 27 deaths which is the highest fatalities recorded in the city in the last 25 days.

"We suspect that the majority of these deaths in the last one week were either due to late referrals from private hospitals to civic-run hospitals or late treatment. We want to analyse every single death during this time and find the reason for the spurt in the number of deaths," said Suresh Kakani, additional municipal commissioner (health).

Kakani said the death rate at the peak of the first wave was 5.1 per cent. However throughout the second wave, the city's death rate was less than 1 per cent. He added, "The overall average death rate of the city during both the waves is 2.1 per cent. The reasons might vary from patient to patient. It would be better to comment after we get the audit report of these deaths.”