The number of deaths from Covid-19 in India is believed to be much higher than the published figures. For many local journalists, counting corpses has become a painful undertaking beyond imagination.
On April 1, a mother took her daughter to a public hospital in the western Indian state of Gujarat, to be tested for Covid-19. This is the wife and daughter of an editor working at India’s leading prestigious newspaper. While waiting in line, they noticed two body bags on the stretcher. The staff at the hospital in Gandhinagar, the capital of Gujarat state, said the people died of Covid-19. After that, the mother and daughter returned home and told what they had witnessed to Rajesh Pathak, the editor of the local newspaper. Sandesh . That evening, Mr. Pathak called reporters and decided to investigate further. “Until then, the press has not announced any deaths from Covid-19 in Gandhinagar,” he told BBC. That day, only 9 official Covid-19 deaths were recorded in the state of Gujarat. A man cries next to the casket of his father who died of Covid-19 in New Delhi, India, on April 16. Photo: Reuters. Contradictory Statistical Information The next day, a group of reporters began calling hospitals treating Covid-19 patients in seven cities – Ahmedabad, Surat, Rajkot, Vadodara, Gandhinagar, Jamnagar and Bhavnagar. They asked for information about deaths from the pandemic and filled out a statistics sheet. Since then, Sandesh , the 98-year-old Gujarati newspaper, publishes the daily death toll, and the number is often several times higher than the official figure published by the government. “We have sources at the hospitals, and the government has not denied any of our information. But we still need direct confirmation,” Pathak said. So the newspaper’s reporters Sandesh decided to do some reportage in the traditional style. On the evening of April 11, two reporters and a photographer went to the morgue of the Covid-19 hospital in Ahmedabad, Gujarat state. The capacity of this hospital is 1,200 beds. Over 17 hours, they counted 69 body bags that were taken out the gate, then loaded into the waiting ambulance. The next day, the state of Gujarat officially recorded 55 deaths from Covid-19, including 20 from the city of Ahmedabad. On the evening of April 16, reporters drove 150 kilometers around the city and stopped at 21 crematoriums. There, they count body bags and cremation urns, check registers, and talk to crematorium staff. They also reviewed cause-of-death records, photographed and videotaped. Relatives stand by the pyre to burn the body of a person who died of Covid-19 in India on April 22. Photo: Reuters. From there, the team discovered that most of the deaths were attributed to “illness”, but the process of disposing of the body was very strict. By that night, the group counted more than 200 bodies. But the next day, Ahmedabad announced only 25 deaths from the pandemic. During the month of April, the newspaper’s reporters Sandesh maintain a continuous count of deaths in 7 cities. On April 21, they counted 753 deaths, the highest number in a single day since the Covid-19 wave swept through the state. One day, they counted more than 500 deaths. On 5/5, Sandes h recorded 83 deaths in the city of Vadodara. Meanwhile, the official number announced is 13. The Gujarat state government denies the statistics are lacking and insists it is following federal government regulations. Pressure on the government to transparent information However, other newspapers also reported this allegation. For example, the English newspaper Hindu Statistics show that 689 bodies that died from Covid-19 were cremated or buried in 7 cities on April 16, while the official figure published on that day was 94 deaths statewide. BBC Citing the statistics of some experts, in April alone, the state of Gujarat may have missed dozens of deaths from Covid-19. The number of funerals at a crematorium on May 8 also did not match the official statistics of deaths due to the pandemic, according to the Gujarat Samachar , another prestigious local newspaper. Currently, the state of Gujarat has officially announced more than 680,000 cases of Covid-19 and more than 8,500 deaths. Media also noted the lack of announcement of deaths in some Indian cities hit hard by Covid-19. A Covid-19 patient breathes oxygen in his private car, while waiting to be hospitalized in Ahmedabad, India, on April 22. Photo: Reuters. However, it seems that the number of unreported deaths in Gujarat was so great that the state’s Supreme Court had to warn the state government. Many people contract Covid-19 while having pre-existing medical conditions. Citing this, an unnamed senior Indian official told BBC that only patients who contract Covid-19 and die from “SARS-CoV-2 virus pneumonia” will be counted as pandemic deaths. Gujarat Chief Minister Vijay Rupani said “a task force is investigating every death and recounting”. According to expert Prabhat Jha of the University of Toronto, the results of counting bodies at burial pits or cremation grounds and comparing them with official figures can be inaccurate. Because published data is often not updated in a timely manner. Countries like the UK recorded a decrease in Covid-19 deaths after changing the way deaths are calculated. Studies show that worldwide, the actual number of Covid-19 deaths is 30-40% higher than the official figure. “The reporting and statistical systems are affected by the pandemic, so it often takes officials time to update the numbers. But they need to update, and record all deaths. Body bag counting at hospitals and crematoriums is a good way to put pressure on authorities to become more transparent,” said Dr Jha. An Indian woman and her son mourn the death of their husband from Covid-19 in Ahmedabad, India, on April 22. Photo: Reuters. “Take my baby away and cremate” For journalists, it was a harrowing experience. Hitesh Rathod, photojournalist at Sandesh , recounts the painful experience of counting the dead. “People are hospitalized, then taken out in a body bag,” this reporter said. Ronak Shah, one of the reporters of Sandesh , “panic” to hear the cries of three children tearing apart the quiet night. Over the loudspeaker, the hospital announced their father had passed away. “The kids said they went to the hospital to pick up their father. But seven hours later, they came home with the body of their father,” he said. Dipak Mashla, who led the team of reporters to the crematorium, was “frightened and shaken” when he returned home. “I’ve seen parents bring in bags for their children’s bodies, pay the funeral staff and say to them, ‘Take my baby away and cremate’. They were too scared to even touch the corpse,” the reporter said. The cleric’s account of the burial for 150 Covid-19 patients before being cremated Every day, Hindu cleric RamKaran Mishra performs burial ceremonies for about 150 people who died of Covid-19 at the Ghazipur crematorium in eastern New Delhi, India.
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