The Odisha Congress on Monday accused the Naveen Patnaik government of under-reporting COVID-19 deaths to cover up its failure in tackling the pandemic.
“In about 40 days, Nayagarh, a small district, has officially communicated that 117 persons have succumbed to COVID-19. However, the State government has been maintaining Nayagarh’s COVID-19 death-toll at 59, combining fatalities of both first and second waves,” Congress leader Nishinkant Mishra told a press conference.
Mr. Mishra said Nayagarh’s actual deaths got exposed when the internal communication of inclusion of pandemic victims found its way to public domain.
Special audit sought
“The government document says 117 persons died of COVID-19 between April 28 and June 10,” said the Congress leader. Demanding a special audit of all COVID-19 deaths in the State, the Congress said there was no harm in making the actual death figure public.
Alleging that under-reporting of deaths was deliberate, Mr. Mishra said the government must own responsibility for mismanaging the pandemic as many people in rural areas were left to die without the robust healthcare system.
