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Bengal’s COVID-19 Numbers Raise Suspicions and Speculations

Writer's picture: Tejas RokhadeTejas Rokhade
Apr 13, 20203 min read

There has been mounting suspicion over the COVID-19 numbers released by the West Bengal government. Besides, the Home Ministry also warned the Bengal government for violating lockdown measures. Complete Coverage: Coronavirus


Crux of the Matter


Curious Case of COVID-19 Numbers Bharatiya Janata Party accused the West Bengal government of underreporting the numbers of Coronavirus cases in the state and took the issue to the State Governor Jagdeep Dhankar. BJP said that there was a discrepancy between the numbers provided by the West Bengal government and Centre’s data. Party members told the Governor that on April 10, 2020, the Centre had recorded 116 cases while the State had recorded 95. The Hindu also reported that the State Health Department had not released an official bulletin on its website as compared to other states that began the practice since February. BJP delegates also complained to the Governor that the State is not doing enough to trace and quarantine the people who attended the Tablighi Jamaat event in Delhi’s Nizammudin. BJP also accused the West Bengal government of low testing. It told the Governor that wherever distributed, the testing kits are hardly being used and that nearly 5,000 testing kits have not been distributed. It said that no test was conducted in the Malda district even when 1,000 testing kits have been supplied there.


West Bengal: People in large numbers at a vegetable market in Asansol, amid #Coronaviruslockdown to contain the spread of the disease. pic.twitter.com/x5ymVJqBOr — ANI (@ANI) April 14, 2020

State CM Mamata Banerjee had been blaming the Centre for the low number of Coronavirus test kits. However, ICMR-NICED Director Dr. Shanta Dutta said that there was no shortage of test kits in the State. She said the department has 27,500 kits already in stock. She also said that the health center has not been receiving many samples for testing since a week.

Centre’s Wrath The Home Ministry has issued a warning to the State twice for breaching lockdown measures. In the letter, the Centre had warned the West Bengal government against allowing congregations of religious groups. The letter dated 10th April 2020 identified areas such as Maniktala, Topsia, Metiaburz, Ikbalpur, Gardeanreach, Rajabazaar, and Narkel Danga, where, as per Centre there has been a rise in the number of COVID-19 cases, where lockdown norms were violated. The letter also noted that shops selling non-essential items have been given permission to function and that there has been an increasing number of exceptions provided by the State at a time when the number of cases is increasing.


Centre issued warning to the WB govt

Bengal Govt’s Statement On the mounting suspicion of West Bengal fudging the numbers, Chief Secretary of Bengal Rajeev Sinha said that all death reports go to the audit committee for a review and only after their confirmation the death is reported. He added that the State is not reporting deaths in case of comorbidity. Comorbidity means existence of additional conditions – in this case COVID-19 along with other conditions like diabetes, heart condition, hypertension, etc. (As per US’ protocol comorbid deaths of patients tested positive are counted as COVID-19 deaths) Moreover, the Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) had declared 10 deaths from COVID-19 in recent days. However, Mr. Sinha said that KMC had no authority to declare COVID-19 deaths. Union Minister Babul Supriyo said that many doctors in Kolkata told him that the government figures of Coronavirus were not accurate.

Curiopedia


  1. 4 COVID-19 positive patients died last week in Kolkata and the cause of death of all 4 was not stated to be COVID-19. Instead, the deaths have been attributed to Heart Attack or Diabetes – comorbidity.

  2. West Bengal’s ruling party, “All India Trinamool Congress(TMC)” was formed in 1998 by Mamata Banerjee. Ms. Banerjee served in Congress for 26 years before forming TMC.

  3. Mamata Banerjee has held Union Minister posts under the prime ministership of PV Narsimha Rao (Cong), Atal Bihari Vajpayee (BJP) as well as Manmohan Singh (Cong).

  4. In 2009, the Left Front which ruled West Bengal for 34 years was dethroned by the Mamta Banarjee’s “All India Trinamool Congress”. In the general elections in 2014, the Communists recorded their worst performance since India’s first parliamentary polls.

Curated Coverage


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