Chennai

As per ICMR guidelines, the deaths that have occurred during the pandemic period will be considered as COVID-19 deaths irrespective of the co-morbidities and terminal illnesses that patients suffered from. Several media outlets, including DT Next, had reported the discrepancies in the death counts between data on mortalities reported by the Corporation and the Health Department as burial ground records showed that the patient was positive but the medical bulletin did not have details of the deceased. Following the discrepancies, the Death Reconciliation Committee was formed to reconcile both the data. The committee had found that 444 deaths of positive patients from various institutions were not matching with burial ground documents and recommended that they be added to TN’s toll.