Tamil Nadu Health Secretary J Radhakrishnan has, on Wednesday, said that the deaths of 444 people will be added to the state's COVID-19 death tally as these deaths were earlier missed out in the count. His statement has shown the prevalence of the discrepancy in recording the deaths caused by the Coronavirus pandemic. 

While addressing the reporters on Wednesday after inaugurating the plasma bank in Chennai, Radhakrishnan said that these 444 deaths have occurred between March 1 and June 10 and the numbers weren't taken into the count. The missed out numbers were ascertained based on the report disclosed by the Death Reconciliation Committee installed by the state government to streamline the COVID-19 deaths. 

The bureaucrat stated that the reconciliation report on the deaths in Chennai will be disclosed henceforth every week with accord to the order issued by the Chief Minister. According to the daily bulletin issued by the state health department on Wednesday, all deaths of those who confirmed positive for COVID-19 will be noted as COVID-19 deaths regardless of the cause of death, as per the guidelines issued by the Indian Council for Medical Research (ICMR). 

Based on the guideline, the government has set up a committee to derive the count of deaths based on the details of deaths reported from the institutions and the details of deaths obtained from the burial grounds.  The committee has now instructed to add additional 444 deaths in the state's COVID-19 death toll as these deaths would fall under the category of COVID-19 death based on the guidelines of the ICMR.

These deaths have added to the COVID-19 death toll as the deceased had tested positive for the virus though they had demised due to co-morbid conditions or other illnesses. The reports stated that a nine-member committee headed by Dr. Vadivelan, the Director of Public Health and Preventive Medicine was installed by the state government to reconcile the COVID-19 deaths in the city.

444 deaths have been added to the Wednesday's tally and along with the 74 fresh deaths reported on Wednesday, the state had reported 518 deaths on Wednesday which taken the total death toll to 3,144. On Tuesday, the state's death toll stood at 2,626.

In June, Tamil Nadu has witnessed a similar discrepancy in the COVID-19 death toll that triggered major speculations over the government's transparency. The reports revealed the huge difference in the state's death tally against Chennai's tally. It was found that 236 COVID-19 deaths in Chennai were left out from the records of the state's registry. On June 8, Chennai Corporation has recorded 460 COVID-19 deaths whereas the Directorate of the Public Health's tally of the city's death toll was at 224.