Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Sunday lashed out at the Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led government over 'underreporting' of COVID-19 deaths in the country.
Gandhi tweeted a New York Times report titled "As COVID ravages India, true death toll is undercounted", and wrote, "Shroud the truth, Deny oxygen shortage, Underreport deaths, GOI is doing everything......to save his fake image!"
The report has alleged that the administration is underreporting deaths in the country.
"Over 13 days in mid-April, Bhopal officials reported 41 deaths related to COVID-19. But a survey by The New York Times of the city’s main COVID-19 cremation and burial grounds, where bodies were being handled under strict protocols, revealed a total of more than 1,000 deaths during the same period," said the report.
"The same phenomenon appeared to be happening in Lucknow and Mirzapur — major cities in Uttar Pradesh State — and across Gujarat, where, during a similar period in mid-April, the authorities reported between 73 and 121 COVID-related deaths each day. But a detailed count compiled by one of Gujarat’s leading newspapers, Sandesh, which sent reporters to cremation and burial grounds across the state, indicated that the number was several times higher, around 610 each day," the report added.
Earlier in the day, Gandhi urged his party colleagues to assist the public as he claimed that the current "system is failing." Taking to Twitter, the Congress leader said: "'System' failed, so it's important to do Jan ki baat'." "In this crisis, the country needs responsible citizens. I request my Congress colleagues to leave all political work - just provide all help and ease the pain of our countrymen," he added in his tweet. "This is the Dharma of the Congress family," Gandhi concluded.
Meanwhile, as per Union Health Ministry, India has recorded 3,49,691 new COVID-19 cases and 2,767 related deaths in the last 24 hours.
According to the official data issued by the Union Health Ministry on Sunday morning, the country's total infection count has mounted to 1,69,60,172 cases, while 1,92,311 people have so far succumbed to the viral infection so far.
