Former Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister and Telugu Desam Party (TDP) chief N Chandrababu Naidu, on Friday said the COVID-19 health bulletins released by the YSRCP led Andhra Pradesh government in the state were "bogus and full of wrong claims”. Naidu has accused the government of giving false reports to the Centre.
"There is a mismatch between the figure mentioned in the Chief Minister’s dashboard and the details given by the health secretary. The total capacity of the seven labs in AP was only 990 tests per day as per the CM dashboard itself. Even the total 263 labs in the country could conduct just 27,256 tests yesterday (Thursday), but AP is claiming that 8,622 tests were conducted in 12 hours," Naidu said, pointing out that the health secretary had stated that 16,555 tests had been carried out.
Naidu made the allegations during a teleconference with his party representatives and mandal presidents.
Naidu said the government releasing false reports on the virus transmission was leading to confusion among the public. He later took to Twitter to slam the YSRCP stating that 84% of Andhra Pradesh had become red zones due to politicking by YS Jagan Mohan Reddy in the time of a pandemic.
“84% of Andhra Pradesh’s districts have been designated as red zones by the @MoHFW_INDIA. Courtesy: @ysjagan’s incompetence, negligence and focus on politicking (read: elections, removal of SEC etc.) rather than public health. This is turning out to be a man-made disaster,” he said.
84% of Andhra Pradesh’s districts have been designated as red zones by the @MoHFW_INDIA. Courtesy: @ysjagan’s incompetence, negligence and focus on politicking (read: elections, removal of SEC etc.) rather than public health. This is turning out to be a man-made disaster pic.twitter.com/0N8BTBX0iS
— N Chandrababu Naidu #StayHomeSaveLives (@ncbn) April 17, 2020
Former TDP Minister Bandaru Satyanarayana Murthy also accused the YSRCP of misleading the public and the Centre, reported Deccan Chronicle. The leader alleged that over 79 tests that were conducted in Visakhapatnam and Srikakulam districts were being suppressed citing delays from testing labs at Chennai and Delhi. The former minister alleged that the numbers were being fudged to make it appear that the north coastal Andhra region is coronavirus-free in order to shift the capital city.