A blow to Kerala’s exceptionalism

The State is facing a loss of credibility as it records a huge backlog of COVID-19 deaths.

The , taking place since October 22, has been a revelation of sorts. The exercise has added 10,678 more deaths to the State’s official list of COVID-19 fatalities, accounting for 26.7% of the total 39,955 COVID-19 deaths declared so far in the State (as of November 29). This makes Kerala the State with the second-highest COVID-19 toll in India. These are mind-boggling figures, given that the State Death Authorisation Committee has till date received over 26,000 appeals for inclusion of names in the fatality list, of which less than 7,000 have been included after scrutiny.

The entire exercise has punched holes in the State’s pandemic narrative of having one of the best containment strategies, as evidenced by a steady and low case fatality rate. Such tales of exceptionalism are always looked at with scepticism by epidemiologists and public health experts. And while the State will be appreciated for undertaking the death reconciliation exercise seriously, the loss of credibility is something that it will find hard to live down. The question being asked is whether the State administration ever saw the true picture of the impact of the pandemic. This is because even when many vigilant public health experts and clinicians pointed out discrepancies in the reporting of deaths, the wide disparities in the case fatality rate between districts, and the need to pay attention to the fact that many patients were dying at home, the State continued to be in denial.