Team Herald
PANJIM: In yet another ‘late’ update, Directorate of Health Services (DHS) added another ‘68 additional deaths’ that occurred from August 2020 to June 2021 to its daily COVID mortality bulletin.
These figures had been added to Wednesday’s daily media bulletin, which explains the sudden jump in Covid-related deaths.
Due to this addition, the mortality count that was 3,219 on September 14 jumped to 3,289 on Sept 15. On Thursday, September 16, no deaths were reported so the total number of deaths since the pandemic began stands at 3,219.
According to sources, all of the 68 additional deaths that were reported late were from the South Goa District Hospital (SGDH).
It may be recalled that DHS in the past had made several such announcements about deaths that occurred from the time of the Covid pandemic’s first wave.
These late announcements have obscured the actual number of deaths every month from August 2020. For instance, the month of May 2021, which reported the highest number of deaths, could have had a far higher number.
In the past, DHS had put the onus on private hospitals for not submitting the data on time, but this time it is the South Goa District Hospital that was late.
It may be recalled that during the second wave, there were complaints from families that the details of their deceased did not appear on the Covid mortality bulletins.
