Kirit Somaiya tears into Maharashtra govt over under-reporting of COVID-19 deaths

Mumbai (Maharashtra) [India], June 17 (ANI): Maharashtra BJP vice president Kirit Somaiya on Wednesday hit out at Cheif Minister Uddhav Thackeray-led government, stating that it is "under-reporting" deaths related to COVID-19.
"Thackeray Sarkar under-reporting of corona death exposed now. 16 June BMC added 862 corona deaths, earlier mentioned as natural (non-corona) death. In statement of 16 June BMC stated total corona deaths in Mumbai 3165, 2248 as on 15 June + 862 old correction + 55 death of 16 June," the BJP leader tweeted.
As per the Union Health Ministry's latest bulletin, Maharashtra with 1,13,445 cases continues to be the worst-affected state in the country. It has 50,057 active cases.
On Tuesday, Maharashtra Chief Secretary Ajoy Mehta had said that 1,328 additional deaths have been added to the state's tally of COVID-19 deaths after reconciliation of figures done in a review of cases.
"Death certificates and Covid positive cases were matched. Deaths found not reflected in the epidemiological report have now been reconciled and this has indicated an additional 5,071 positive cases which have been discharged and additional 1,328 deaths due to various causes as being COVID positive at the time of death," Mehta had told ANI.
He had added, "In the beginning, COVID-19 data was managed manually and now it is portal-based. So, a letter was sent last week to collectors and commissioners to match total reported positive cases with final outcome namely either discharge or unfortunate deaths."
The state Chief Secretary had informed this data is being put in the public domain in keeping with the state government policy of complete transparency. "There is nothing to fear as the death rate remains under control and efforts are being made to further reduce them," he had said. (ANI)