Lok Sabha Question No. 3070 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2021-08-06
Subject: Audit of COVID-19 deaths
Ministry: HEALTH AND FAMILY WELFARE
Asked by: Kinjarapu Ram Mohan Naidu

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF HEALTH AND FAMILY WELFARE DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND FAMILY WELFARE

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED Q. No 3070 TO BE ANSWERED ON 6 th  AUGUST 2021

## AUDIT OF COVID-19 DEATHS

## 3070 SHRI RAM MOHAN NAIDU KINJARAPU:

Will the Minister of Health and Family Welfare be pleased to state:

- a) whether  the  Government  proposes  to  conduct  an  audit  of  the  data  involving  total  deaths, covid deaths, active COVID-19 cases and recoveries since the beginning of the COVID-19 similar to the audit proposed by the State of Tamil Nadu, if so, the details thereof;
- b) whether private labs are permitted to do genome sequencing of Coronavirus, if so, the details thereof and number of private labs that can do genome sequencing along with their capacity thereon; and
- c) if  not,  the  reasons  for  preventing  the  private  labs  from  doing  Genome  Sequencing  of Coronavirus?

## ANSWER THE MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTERY OF HEALTH AND FAMILY WELFARE (DR. BHARATI PRAVIN PAWAR)

(a) to (c): Health is a state subject. Detailed guidelines for reporting of deaths have been issued by Union Health Ministry to all States/UTs. Accordingly, all States/UTs report cases and deaths to Union Health Ministry on a regular basis.

ICMR on 10 th May 2020 issued 'Guidance for appropriate recording of COVID-19 related deaths in India'

## (Available

at:

https://www.icmr.gov.in/pdf/covid/techdoc/Guidance\_appropriate\_recording\_of\_related\_deaths\_ India.pdf ). This was widely disseminated among States/UTs.

MoHFW  vide  letter  dated  9 th October  2020  has  conveyed  to  States/UTs,  WHO  and  ICMR guidelines  on  correct  recording  of  COVID-19  related  deaths  in  accordance  with  globally accepted ICD-10 classification and also urged states to undertake periodic death audits with the aim to improve quality of healthcare services by suitable corrective measures. States/UTs were also provided with a proforma for undertaking death audits in this regard.

The  COVID-19  management  toolkit  for  District  Collectors  shared  by  Ministry  of  Health  & Family Welfare on 2 nd April  2021 with states,  also  highlighted the need for deaths audits and follow up action as one of the key monitoring parameters.

167 Central teams deployed to 33 states/UTs have also reiterated need for correct recording of deaths and undertake periodic death audits.

The data of deaths are obtained from States/UTs. It has been noted that some of states based on reconciliation of mortality data also revise the reported COVID-19 deaths sometimes. All states have also been advised that while reconciling the data, the details of deaths shall be indicated date wise & district wise to get a correct picture of the pandemic.

To  monitor  the  variants  of  SARS-CoV-2  virus,  initially  genomic  sequencing  was  conducted through National Institute of Virology, Pune.

Subsequently,  Government  of  India  established  Indian  SARS-CoV-2  Genomic  Consortium (INSACOG)  in  December  2020  as  a  consortium  of  10  laboratories  of  Ministry  of  Health  & Family  Welfare,  Dept.  of  Biotechnology,  Indian  Council  of  Medical  Research  (ICMR)  and Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR).  The network of INSACOG laboratories has since been increased to 28.

Inclusion  of  private  lab  in  INSACOG  is  under  consideration.  Few  labs  have  submitted  their willingness  to  be  part  of  INSACOG.  Their  inclusion  will  be  decided  based  on  capacity assessment with respect to their human resources and infrastructure.

Analysis of the genomic data is a continuous and ongoing process. Periodic updates are shared with experts and states and are also regularly made available in the public domain through the media bulletin of INSACOG.

States are regularly advised to send samples for genome sequencing and provide clinical data of positive  persons  to  enable  greater  epidemiological  insights  to  identify  link  between  surge  in cases at various places to the variants.

While  monitoring  the  prevalence  of  variants  through  the  network  of  labs,  as  per  advice  from experts it is noted that the public health measures to manage the Pandemic in the field and the treatment  protocol  remain  the  same  and  the  five-fold  strategy  of  test-track-treat-vaccinate  and COVID appropriate behavior is to be followed at the field level.