Devendra Fadnavis accuses CM Uddhav & BMC of hiding Mumbai's actual COVID death toll

As the number of Coronavirus cases in Mumbai reached 59,293, the leader of Opposition Devendra Fadnavis accused the Maharashtra government of underreporting COVID-19 deaths. In a letter to Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray, Fadnavis said that his government is violating the ICMR guidelines by not reporting as many as 950 deaths in Mumbai. He demanded clarification from CM Uddhav's government on why more than 500 deaths in various Mumbai hospitals were not referred to the death audit committee. 

The former CM of the state pointed out that the BMC is disobeying the directions by ICMR and WHO and demanded an investigation on all such deaths throughout the state. Citing state government's circular that said every case should be decided in 7 days, Fadnavis claimed that 560 cases of May & 148 cases of June have not been decided yet by the Death Audit Committee in Mumbai.

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Fadnavis' accusation against state govt

Earlier on June 4, Fadnavis had written to CM Uddhav flagging concerns the percentage of tests done in Mumbai and pointed out that the overall tests conducted in Maharashtra had witnessed a steep fall from 56% on May 1 to 27% on May 31. He had also questioned the steady rise in Maharashtra's death toll and cited reports that the words 'COVID-19' and 'suspected COVID-19' had been purged from many deceased's death certificates.

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COVID-19 cases in Maharashtra

Maharashtra on Monday reported the highest single-day spike of 178 deaths due to the coronavirus disease, along with 2786 fresh cases. The total number of confirmed COVID-19 cases in the state now stands at 1,10,744, including 56,049 recoveries and 4128 deaths. The state health department informed that 5,071 patients were discharged in the last 24 hours, leaving 50,554 cases active.

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In the state's capital Mumbai, 1,066 people were diagnosed with COVID-19, the respiratory illness caused by the novel Coronavirus on Monday, taking the aggregate to 59,293. Meanwhile, the tally in neighbouring Thane touched 18,732, while that in Palghar stood 2,476. Pune so far has 12,419 cases while that in Nagpur is 1,046.

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