The information released by the State government by way of media bulletins has several chinks when it comes to COVID-19 numbers in the city and State.
Doubts on veracity
The Medical & Health department, which releases the health bulletins every day, has been leaving several confusing gaps in the figures of COVID-19 infected, giving rise to doubts about their veracity.
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Rumours are rife that the government is desperately hiding the real figures so as not to create panic, especially when it comes to numbers in the city.
A case in point was the bulletin released on April 14, wherein the number of active cases within GHMC was reported as 249.
In the same bulletin, the number of active cases in Vikarabad was reported as 29.
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In the bulletin next day, the number of active cases in city grew to 267, and that of Vikarabad rose to 32, indicating at least 21 new cases from these two areas. However, the number of fresh COVID-19 cases throughout the State was reported as six, which, if not explained, amounts to gross under-reporting by the government.
Another gap was found in the bulletin released on April 16, wherein the total number of active cases in the city was mentioned as 240. The same statement mentioned the total number of discharges at 134, up from the total in the previous day’s bulletin at 70. These 64 discharges were presumably on the same day.
A statement from GHMC on the same day put the number of fresh cases in the city at 25.
Added with fresh cases and reduced by the number of discharges, the total number of active cases in the city should have been 228, and not 240 as mentioned in the bulletin.
A real goof up by the authorities came on Friday, when the media bulletin revised the total number of discharges in the city to 131 from the previous day’s 134.
While GHMC’s daily statement mentioned 30 fresh COVID-19 infections, the number of active cases in city as per the bulletin was 286. It was 16 cases higher than the deducible figure of 270 (240 as mentioned by previous day’s bulletin plus 30 fresh cases), considering that there were no discharges for the day.
One more glaring omission was in the bulletin on April 1, wherein the total number of deaths in the State were reported as five, together with one death on the same day. However, two days before, the bulletin reported six deaths, and together with the single death on April 1, the number should have been seven. This was pointed out on Twitter as ‘brain teaser’ by the Telangana government.
Questions directed to the city’s Medical & Health authorities yielded a blank on Friday.