CHANDIGARH: Fifteen districts in Haryana and Punjab recorded a rise of over 10% in registered deaths by all causes in 2020, the year that saw the start of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Both the states have been among the worst-hit parts of the country since the start of the outbreak, claiming thousands of lives and infecting lakhs of people and experts have attributed it as the key reason for the steep spike in deaths.
Of these 15 districts, nine are from Haryana of which the registered deaths grew by over 20% in three districts, according to Civil Registration System (CRS) data, in which the deaths have not been categorised by causes.
Sira — the largest district of Haryana — had the highest growth of 30.93%, nearly five times than the national average rise of 6.21%. A total of 11,927 deaths were registered in the district in 2020 in comparison to 9,109 in 2019.
In Palwal, the number of registered deaths went up by 21.12% from 5,751 in 2019 to 6,966 in 2020 while in Panipat the registered deaths went up from 8,029 to 9,700, a rise of 20.81%. An upsurge of 19.81% was logged in Faridabad where the count of deaths jumped from 11,141 to 13,356. Panchkula recorded an uptick of 19.36% followed by 17.77% in Rewari, 17.26% in Bhiwani, 11.36% in Jhajjar, 10.97% in Gurugram and 10.93% in Hisar. In Haryana, the overall number of registered deaths scaled from 1,88,910 to 2,12,238, registering a jump of 12.34%.
In Punjab, the maximum rise of 15.83% was in Mansa where the count of registered deaths increased from 4,964 in 2019 to 5,750 in 2020 followed by 15.49% in Faridkot, 12.55% in Bathinda, 10.54% in Sangrur and 10.37% in Amritsar.
Punjab’s overall numbers moved (8.70%) from 2,15,045 in 2019 to 2,29,846.
In contrast to the neighbouring states, the registered deaths increased by 1.87% in Himachal Pradesh. The state recorded a marginal jump from 43,633 in 2019 to 44,449 in 2020.
Aswini Kumar Nanda, Professor of population studies at Chandigarh’s Centre for Research in Rural and Industrial Development (CRRID), attributed the rise in registered deaths in 2020 to Covid-19 deaths during the first wave which was largely confined to urban areas. “Data shows that a steep rise was recorded in urban areas having health facilities,” he said.
Despite an increase in registered deaths, Prof Nanda did not rule out the possibility of many deaths going unreported, especially in the rural areas.
“Even though there is a well-defined system in place still not all deaths are recorded,” he said.
Taking into account the high fatality count during the second wave, Prof Nanda stated that the registered deaths are expected to go up manifold in 2021.
