COVID-19: Tejashwi slams Bihar Govt over low testing rate; says 'CM Nitish concealed data'

Shortly after Central government expressed concern over low testing rate for Coronavirus in Bihar, opposition leader Tejashwi Yadav slammed NDA government and Chief Minister Nitish Kumar for under testing people despite a surge in positive cases.

Sharing COVID-19 figures on Twitter, RJD leader stated that Nitish Kumar is ‘playing havoc with lives of 12.6 crore Biharis’. He accused CM of suppressing data for maintaining his im while many people lost ir lives due to infection. Lakhs of people may die if under testing goes on like this in state, he added.

In a subsequent tweet, Tejashwi Yadav alleged that Bihar recorded a highest single-day surge of 2,226 new Coronavirus cases but to avoid it from making headlines, CM Nitish Kumar hid actual figures and published half of cases ar day. If more than 30,000 tests are conducted daily in Bihar, state will record highest number of cases, he said.

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Central team to visit Bihar

Amid worsening COVID-19 situation in Bihar, Centre has decided to send a special team to assess  condition. While BJP headquarters in capital Patna has become COVID hotspot, with more than 70 people infected with virus, all districts have reported COVID cases and state has, till date, tested only 3.58 lakh samples. 

"In view of rising trend of COVID-19 cases being observed in Bihar, a decision has been taken to depute a multi-disciplinary team to review and coordinate with State Health Department in managing COVID-19 outbreak re," Ministry of Health and Family Welfare said.  

team will comprise of Joint Secretary in Ministry of Health Lav Agarwal, Dr S K Singh, Director, National Centre for Disease Control and Dr Neeraj Nischal, Associate Professor, Medicine at AIIMS New Delhi. 

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‘Very low testing rate’

Joint Secretary in Ministry of Health Lav Agarwal has written a letter to Principal Secretary (Health) and Secretary (Health) and has asked m to ensure that at least 80 per cent of new cases have ir close contacts traced and are in quarantine within 72 hours of case confirmation.

letter stated that overall testing is "very low" in state vis-a-vis national aver, and districts like Patna, Bhagalpur, Muzaffarpur, Nalanda, Begusarai and Munger are reporting a higher number of cases while Saharsa, Gaya, Paschim Champaran, Jamui, Arwal, Saran and Khagaria are emerging hotspots.

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