The Congress in Kerala has alleged there was a huge disparity between the real number of COVID-19-related deaths and the official death toll reported by the state government. Citing a Right to Information response on the number of COVID-19 cases till date, Opposition Leader VD Satheesan on Tuesday said that the number of deaths being publicised by the government is far less, and there is a discrepancy of over 7,000 deaths.
“The RTI reply says that from January 1, 2020, till July 13 this year, the COVID-19 deaths in the state were 23,486. However, the Chief Minister on Monday told the House that there were only 16,170 deaths," Leader of Opposition in the state Assembly, VD Satheesan, said at a press meet. According to Satheesan, the reply to the RTI filed on July 14, came on July 23.
Showing the RTI reply, Satheesan said there was a "difference of 7,316 deaths" between the RTI reply and the official data. He alleged that this means there is a huge disparity between the real number of deaths and the numbers reported by the state government.
"This information was received through the RTI Act, and it was given by the Information Kerala Mission, which is not functioning from the KPCC (Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee) office; it is a state government agency," Satheesan said.
He alleged the state government was deliberately showing lower numbers of COVID-19 deaths and that the methods used for ascertaining the deaths were unscientific. The Congress party said it will look to take legal action against such a huge disparity in the state government’s figures.
According to a government release, Kerala reported 22,129 new COVID-19 cases on Tuesday while the daily death toll was reported to be 15, taking the death toll to 16,326.