The Kerala government has responded to the notice from the Union government over the publication of daily COVID-19 numbers detected in the state, and has said that Kerala never stopped updating daily COVID-19 figures. Kerala Health Minister on Tuesday, April 19, said that the state government has been emailing data and COVID-19 figures to the Union Health Ministry every day, and alleged that the Union government is spreading false propaganda.
"Such a thing has not happened at all,” Veena George said, when asked about the gap in reporting cases. “We all are surprised on how the Centre can say such a thing, when every day, we have been sending the daily COVID-19 figures through e-mail. The Centre is propagating false things," she added.
Union Health Secretary Lav Agarwal had on Monday written to the Kerala government asking it to continue updating daily COVID-19 cases and deaths reported across the state, adding that the lack of data from Kerala is impacting national statistics.
Kerala had last week announced that it will not be releasing daily COVID-19 case updates in view of the decreasing number of cases. However, on April 18, the Kerala government released data after a gap of four days, which has led to India reporting a sudden 90% increase in COVID-19 cases.
This, the government said, “has impacted and skewed the status of India's key monitoring indicators like cases, deaths, and positivity. India has reported a 90% increase in new cases, and 165% increase in positivity in a single day.”
In a letter to the Principal Secretary of the Health Department in Kerala, Union Health Secretary Lav Agarwal said that daily reporting of data helps understand the impact of the pandemic at the ground level, and helps track any anomalies or sudden rise in cases. “Quick and continuous update of data will assist in India's fight against the COVID-19 pandemic and will help not only in tracking and monitoring but will also help in defining the strategies and plans at the Centre-State and District level,” the letter to Kerala had said.