Refuting the reports of alleged data fudging, state Health Minister Rajesh Tope on Thursday, June 10, asserted that the Maharashtra government has not hidden the number of COVID-19 deaths.
Talking to media over reports that 11,000 fatalities in the state have not been reported as coronavirus deaths, Tope said the Uddhav Thackeray-led MVA government is working honestly and in a transparent manner.
"Every district has private and government COVID-19 hospitals. The update on coronavirus deaths in government hospitals is done regularly, while the data from private hospitals is delayed and hence there is a discrepancy in the numbers. All private hospitals have been asked to submit their list of coronavirus deaths regularly," Tope was quoted as saying by PTI.
Moreover, the minister said that the health department has directed the chief civil surgeon in all districts that if the death updates are not done regularly, action would be taken.
The portal is updated by data entry operators and unfortunately, the update is sometimes not done on time, Tope added.
Meanwhile, speaking about the vaccination drive from June 21 for 18 years and above age group, the minister said he had urged the Centre to allocate vaccines to Maharashtra based on its population and number of cases. The vaccine allocation policy will be announced in two days, Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan has told him over the phone, he added.
Maharashtra on Thursday, June 10, reported 12,207 coronavirus positive cases and 393 fatalities, which took the state's infection count to 58,76,087 and the death toll to 1,03,748.
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