Naveen govt. under-reporting COVID deaths, says Odisha Cong.

State trying to cover up its failure in tackling the pandemic, says Nishinkant Mishra

The Odisha Congress on Monday accused the Naveen Patnaik government of under-reporting COVID-19 deaths to cover up its failure in tackling the pandemic. “In about 40 days, Nayagarh, a small district, has officially communicated that 117 persons have succumbed to COVID-19. However, the State government has been maintaining Nayagarh’s COVID-19 death-toll at 59, combining fatalities of both first and second waves,” Congress leader Nishinkant Mishra told a press conference. Mr. Mishra said Nayagarh’s actual deaths got exposed when the internal communication of inclusion of pandemic victims found its way to public domain.