The missing Covid-19 deaths in Uttar Pradesh's Raebareli district

According to the local people, cases are being undercounted and underreported

India is grappling with a surge in Covid-19 cases, as the second wave of the pandemic has ravaged the entire country. The Raebareli district in Uttar Pradesh has also felt the wrath of the coronavirus as it struggles to stop the outbreak.

While the rural district reported a maximum of 110 new Covid-19 cases during the first wave, the daily count surged to 376 and four deaths on April 26. Data shows that active cases have declined in the district since but locals believe that cases are being undercounted and underreported, according to a report by The Indian Express.

Many people showed symptoms of Covid-19 before dying, but those deaths did not find a place in official lists, the report cited. This is mostly likely why the Sultanpur Khera village in the district, which has a population of 3,000, reported only two deaths in April.

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Dinesh Singh, a bank employee, compiled a list of villagers who showed flu-like symptoms before dying: 17 is the total number. The families of 11 of them told the publication that they showed symptoms such as fever, cough, and breathlessness before they died. Of them, 15 were not even tested for Covid-19 or taken to a hospital.

The district administration took action last week only after villagers forced them take notice of the situation. The district administration cordoned off the village, and a large-scale testing drive took place. Anshika Dikshit, Sub-Divisional Magistrate (SDM), Raebareli told IE that the whole village has been made a containment zone, and sanitisation is being done.

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Virendra Singh, Chief Medical Officer, told the publication that official records show that only two people succumbed to Covid-19 in April, and the others might have died due to old age or chronic illness. “I don’t see Sultanpur Khera as an outbreak given that only two cases had positive reports."

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Keeping a tab on things, Dinesh Singh, like a vigilante, checks on those who test positive and scrolls through the state government website each day to see whether there are more Covid-19 positive cases in his village, However, he has spotted only a few in the official list.

There is a catch. "No one is telling us if everyone else is negative, and there are no individual reports," he told IE.

The virus is ripping through a fragile health system in rural areas not equipped to deal with such a large public health crisis.

Television pictures have shown families weeping over the dead in rural hospitals in the UP or camping in wards to tend the sick. Dead bodies are found floating in the Ganges, as crematoriums are overwhelmed, and there is not enough supply of wood for funeral pyres.

Urban India is fighting a brave battle against the coronavirus. But far away from the spotlight, rural India is fighting an uneven battle largely on its own. Against a pandemic that has not spared any corner of the world.