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

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

Sharing the COVID-19 figures on Twitter, the RJD leader stated that Nitish Kumar is ‘playing havoc with the lives of 12.6 crore Biharis’. He accused the CM of suppressing the data for maintaining his image while many people lost their lives due to the infection. Lakhs of people may die if under testing goes on like this in the 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 the actual figures and published half of the cases another day. If more than 30,000 tests are conducted daily in Bihar, the state will record the highest number of cases, he said.

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Central team to visit Bihar

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

"In view of the 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 the State Health Department in managing the COVID-19 outbreak there," the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare said.  

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

The letter stated that overall testing is "very low" in the state vis-a-vis national average, 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 the emerging hotspots.

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