Credibility takes a hit as Centre, Bengal COVID-19 stats mismatch
The rift between the Centre and the West Bengal government over the alleged suppression of COVID-19 statistics is now a thing of the past. What's new is a very different game of numbers and a lot of discrepancies that raise questions on the credibility of both the central and the state health agencies.
The rift between the Centre and the West Bengal government over the alleged suppression of COVID-19 statistics is now a thing of the past. What’s new is a very different game of numbers and a lot of discrepancies that raise questions on the credibility of both the central and the state health agencies.
On May 6, the Press Information Bureau (PIB) of India, a central government agency, tweeted a list of state-wise statistics, which placed the number of active COVID-19 cases in Bengal at 840. Strangely, the state government’s bulletin on May 5 had said there were 940 active cases in the state.
This indicates a recovery of 100 positive cases between May 5 evening, when the state bulletin was published, and May 6 noon, when the PIB tweeted its list. And this is not possible since the May 6 state bulletin indicates only one person was discharged following recovery in the last 24 hours in the state.
Here comes the question of credibility. Whom should the people trust – the PIB or the state health department?
But that’s not it; even the district-wise data in Bengal has raised questions. And to understand this we will have to analyse statistics pertaining to two districts – Jalpaiguri and Murshidabad – of the past three days.
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On May 4, the total cases in Jalpaiguri stood at five, and Murshidabad at two. A day later (May 5), the same count decreased to 4 for Jalpaiguri and only one for Murshidabad. A decrease in total cases can never be supported by any logic; of course unless the government accepts one of the data was wrong.
Further, on May 4, the death count in Jalpaiguri district was shown as one, but the May 5 bulletin showed it as zero. Did the state government again commit a mistake in reporting, or did the dead come back to life this time?
“Mamata’s ever-changing Covid figures raise serious questions on the quality of data,” tweeted BJP’s Amit Malviya, referring to West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, while commenting on the changes in district-wise numbers.
In response, Bengal’s Basirhat MP Nusrat Jahan said in a tweet, ” How does an ordinary citizen trust the PIB if the line separating their news reporting with BJP IT cell fake news propagation, blurs into non-existence?” while pointing out the mismatch of numbers in the PIB and the state bulletin.
Related news: Rapid surge in cases, slow tests blight Bengal’s war against COVID-19
