The crematorium for victims of COVID-19 India was running to the point of melting

At a cremation facility in the state of Gujarat, western India, gas and firewood incinerators are operating so ceaselessly that metal parts begin to melt.

The Nigambodh Ghat Crematorium in New Delhi, India. Photo: Getty Images According to CNN (USA), a crematorium in the state of Uttar Pradesh is in a similar situation, with the number of bodies brought to cremation fivefold in recent weeks, as the 2nd wave of COVID-19s. booming in India. “We had to work day and night, at 100% capacity, to cremate bodies in time,” said Kamlesh Sailor, chairman of the Kurukshetra Cremation Facility Executive Trust in Surat City, Gujarat State. west India, said. Data difference As India’s health system is on the brink of collapse, several major cities have recorded far greater numbers of bodies sent to cremation and burial compared to deaths due to COVID-19. official father. On April 18, India recorded a record 273,810 cases of COVID-19 and 1,619 deaths. As of April 20, the total number of COVID-19 cases of this country has exceeded 15.5 million, second only to the US. A front line employee cremates a man who died of COVID-19 at a crematorium in the Indian suburbs of Mumbai. Photo: Reuters Reliable data is central to the government’s pandemic response, experts say. Without reliable data collection, the preparation of hospital beds and medical essentials will be extremely difficult. But Indian government officials say the disparity in mortality data could be caused by many factors, including an overly prudent body handling process. Many bodies are still cremated according to COVID-19, even if they are only 0.1% likely to be positive for the SARS-CoV-2 virus, a health official said. “Many hospitalized patients were in critical condition and died before testing. There are cases where patients died before admission, we don’t know if they have COVID-19 or not”, the official said to be anonymous. Ms. Bhramar Mukherjee, Professor of Epidemiology and Biological Statistics at the University of Michigan, said there are many areas in India where accurate data cannot be collected. “Things are messed up. It feels like no one understands this situation, it’s annoying,” said Ms. Mukherjee. The crematorium is operating at full capacity The crematorium of patients COVID-19 in Surat broke out. Photo: AFP In Surat, the second largest city in the state of Gujarat, the crematorium Kurukshetra and Umra processed more than 100 bodies a day according to COVID-19 regulations last week. The number of bodies cremated is much higher than the daily death toll, according to the city’s official record of about 25 people. Mr. Prashant Kabrawala, representative of Narayan Trust, Ashwinikumar crematorial company, refused to provide the number of bodies cremated in accordance with COVID-19 regulations. However, he says the number has tripled in recent weeks. “I have never seen so many cremated bodies in the last years, even during the outbreak of the plague in 1994 and the flood of 2006,” Kabrawala said. A Government spokesperson for India in Gujarat declined to respond to a request for comment. India is not the only country that is skeptical of the SARS-CoV-2 virus statistical data. But documents and staff testimonies at cremations show that the disparity in officially reported deaths in India is much higher than in other countries. Professor Mukherjee’s study on the first wave of epidemics in India showed that the number of viral infections was 11 times more than officially reported, which is similar to research in other countries. Besides, the number of deaths in this country is actually 2-5 times higher than the reported data, far exceeding the global average. A relative of COVID-19 victim leans sadly against a glass window at a crematory in New Delhi. Photo: Getty In Lucknow, the state capital of Uttar Pradesh, data from Baikunthdham, the largest cremation facility for people with COVID-19, found that the number of corpses disposed of in April was twice as high as the number of deaths. Death from COVID-19 is recognized by the government. These figures do not take into account other burial facilities, or cases where COVID-19 victims were buried according to Muslim custom – the community makes up a quarter of Lucknow’s population. The number of bodies cremated under COVID-19 regulations has increased fivefold in recent weeks, said Azad, manager of the Baikunthdham facility. “We work day and night. The crematorium is constantly on fire, but many bodies are still waiting in line,” Azad said. People pray before burying the COVID-19 victims at a cemetery in New Delhi. Photo: Reuters Cremations are many times greater than the COVID-19 mortality data also recorded in many other parts of India. In just four days of April, two cremation facilities in Bhopal – the capital of Madhya Pradesh state, central India – recorded 187 bodies cremated according to COVID-19. Meanwhile, the number of deaths from COVID-19 officially announced by the authorities was only 5. Last week, the local Sandesh newspaper reported 63 bodies were taken to a hospital for patients with COVID-19 in the city of Ahmedabad. But that same day, the city authorities counted only 20 people who died from COVID-19. The Lancet Medical Journal says less than a quarter of all deaths in India are medically confirmed, especially in rural areas. This means that the actual COVID-19 mortality in many other Indian states may not be counted. “Most of the deaths are not reported so it is impossible to calculate,” said Ms. Mukherjee.