Data not fudged, says Karnataka health minister after Congress alleges massive discrepancies in COVID-19 toll

June 21, 2021

The Karnataka government on Monday dismissed the allegations made by Congress about the discrepancies in the state’s COVID-19 death records saying that ‘data is not fudged’.
This comes after the Karnataka Congress demanded an audit of COVID-related deaths in the state alleging massive discrepancies. Responding to the allegations, Health Minister Dr K Sudhakar said that the records have already been submitted to the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR).
A day after Karnataka Chief Minister BS Yediyurappa announced a compensation of Rs 1 lakh to Below Poverty Line (BPL) families that have lost adult members to the virus, the Karnataka unit of Congress accused the BJP government of suppressing the number of COVID deaths in the state.
On Sunday, Karnataka’s Covid cases dropped below the 5,000 mark after a gap of two-and-a-half months as the state reported 4,517 fresh infections and 120 fatalities.
According to the state health department, Karnataka’s total number of recoveries increased to 26,45,735, while the cumulative tally climbed to 28,06,453, including 1,26,813 active cases.

Amid claims and concerns over underreporting of COVID-19 deaths in several states across the country, Karnataka has recorded excess 1 lakh deaths this year compared to data from 2018 and 2019.
Around 3,37,000 deaths were recorded by Karnataka between January 1 and June 15 this year, as per the state’s civil registration system (CRS) of the Registrar of Births and Deaths.
In comparison, Karnataka had recorded around 2,24,000 deaths between January 1 and June 30, 2018, and nearly 2,35,000 deaths during the same period in 2019. Official data for 2020 was not available.