An audit report has revealed that almost 300 coronavirus deaths were not reported by the Punjab government.

This has prompted serious controversy and criticism around the Punjab government’s data entry system.

Up until the 19th of November, the Punjab government maintained that the number of Covid-19 related deaths was 2,519. However, the coronavirus death toll jumped up to 2,811 on Friday, after the audit report found that 292 unreported deaths had occurred from March to the mid-November in the province.

Another 15 patients who passed away in the last 24 hours were also added to the updated death toll.

Out of the, previously, unreported deaths 29 occurred in Multan, 42 in Rawalpindi and 145 in Lahore.

At present it is not yet clear who exactly is responsible for the concealment of nearly 300 coronavirus deaths in the province, as the audit report has not named any individuals.

Instead, the report listed a few key reasons why the aforementioned deaths went unreported.

Health authorities have claimed that the 292 coronavirus deaths were unreported owing to incomplete residential addresses, incomplete patient names, non-provision of national identity cards and delays in entering information in the system.

The audit report was jointly conducted by the Primary & Secondary Healthcare Department, the Punjab Healthcare Commission and the coronavirus experts’ advisory group.