2020's 1.61L of 18.11L deaths in India out of Covid-19: report

New Delhi: The Report on Medical Certification of Cause of Death-2020 stated that the Covid-19 pandemic caused 1,60,618 deaths in 2020 out of the total 18.11 medically certified deaths in India. The report was released on Wednesday by the Office of the Registrar General of India (RGI), The Indian Express reported.

The report states that the pandemic remained the fourth major cause of death in 2020, but it was the second major in seven states. Those states were Maharashtra (17.7 per cent), Manipur (15.7 per cent), Uttar Pradesh (15 per cent), Himachal Pradesh (13.5 per cent), Andhra Pradesh (12 per cent), Punjab (11.9 per cent) and Jharkhand (7.6 per cent).

However, the report's medically certified Covid-19 death figure (1,60,618) for that year is higher than Union Health Ministry's official figure (1,48,994). According to ministry data, India's pandemic death count from its breakout to May 25, 2022, is 5,24,507.

TIE reports that for the Report on Medical Certification of Cause of Death-2020, a separate group Covid-19 was added for data collection since the pandemic started in India. The report classifies pandemic deaths under two sub-heads. The first one in which the code 'virus identified' is assigned to a "disease diagnosis of COVID 19 confirmed by laboratory testing". The second is that the code' virus not identified' is assigned to "a clinical or epidemiological diagnosis of COVID 19 where laboratory confirmation is inconclusive or not available."

The report states that out of the 1,60,618 Covid deaths, the virus was identified in 1,38,713 deaths, while 21,905 cases were not verified.

As per the report, 2020's most Covid-19 deaths reported in absolute numbers were by the states of Maharashtra (61,212), followed by Uttar Pradesh (16,489), Karnataka (15,476), Andhra Pradesh (12,193) and Delhi (8,744), while the state of Andhra Pradesh and the Union Terrririrty of Lakshadweep did not report any medically certified Covid deaths in that year.

Anyhow, the report states that the major cause of death in 2020 in India was 'disease of the circulatory system', which contributed 32.1 per cent of total medically certified fatalities.