Are Delhi & Tamil Nadu Faking COVID Deaths?
The Delhi & Tamil Nadu government have been accused of covering up COVID death tolls in the region.
Since some days, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government in Delhi has been accused of hiding the real
situation of the COVID-19 pandemic in Delhi. It has been blamed that the Arvind Kejriwal government has
been hiding the real COVID – 19 death toll in Delhi. Till 11
th June 2020, the official numbers of COVID-19
deaths in Delhi was 984. However, many doctors and hospitals had said that the number of registered deaths
is much less than what is actually happening in the hospitals in Delhi.
On Thursday, 11
th June 2020, the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) said that at least 2,098 people
have died in Delhi due to COVID-19. Jai Prakash, Chairperson of the Standing Committee of North Delhi
Municipal Corporation (NDMC) said, "From March till 10
th June, together in all the three MCDs of Delhi,
there have been 2,098 cremations of Covid-19 patients.” The data about the numbers of deaths was shared
with the Delhi government on 17
th May. Praksah said that he doesn’t know why the Delhi government is not
announcing the exact death figures.
Last month the Delhi Government had decided that if a person is doubtful to have died of coronavirus, still the
Covid – 19 tests will not be done after the patient's death. However, this was not accepted by the Indian
Council of Medical Research (ICMR). ICMR said that all suspected Covid19 cases should be tested even
after the death of the patients. Last month the Delhi Government had also stopped the publishing of
hospital-wise death data from the daily health bulletin.
There were reports that during an inspection the Directorate of Public Health found that half of the COVID - 19
deaths in Chennai were not reported. The team then asked for reconciliation of records based on the data
maintained at the burial grounds in the city. CM, Palaniswami told the journalists that the death figures were
not being underreported. He said, “There is nothing to hide on the deaths. It cannot be covered up. Today if someone dies of coronavirus disease, everyone would come to know of it. The number of deaths in
government and private hospitals are diligently collated and reported.”
