Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Monday claimed that the State government was reporting all COVID-19 deaths in the State “responsibly” and “without fail.”
He claimed that the government did not need to fudge the State’s mortality data because even if all the “suspicious COVID-19 deaths” were included on the official list of COVID-19 deaths after a death audit, Kerala’s case fatality rate would still be lower in comparison to other States.
He claimed that earlier in 2018, when dengue cases were audited, in the initial phase only less than 40 deaths had been reported. But after auditing, even when the number of deaths turned out to be much more, the government published the report.
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Kerala had been approaching COVID-19 containment in a very scientific manner and strategies were being revised in tune with the evolving epidemic.
Blames media
He accused the media of publishing negative stories without taking into account ground realities, which he said was demoralising health-care workers who had been working hard to contain COVID-19.
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