Karnataka CM, medical education minister, health department give different COVID-19 figures

By Anusha Ravi|

Express News Service |

Published: 20th April 2020 03:26 AM

Karnataka CM BS Yediyurappa at a meeting on COVID-19 at Vidhana Soudha in Bengaluru. (File Photo | EPS)

BENGALURU: 410, 401, 390. It seemed that as the hierarchy in the government went up, the COVID-19 positive cases too rose accordingly on Sunday. The differing figures came from the chief minister, then the medical education minister and lastly, the health department.

It all started on Sunday afternoon with Chief Minister BS Yediyurappa telling a delegation of Congress leaders that the number of COVID-19 cases in the state had gone up to 410. It was a startling jump from Saturday evening’s tally of 384. His claim came just moments after the State Health Department’s COVID19 daily afternoon bulletin, which showed an increase by only four new cases. Even as the two numbers left everyone scratching their heads, Medical Education Minister Dr K Sudhakar came up with one more number by evening, saying the positive cases stood at 401.

“401 is the correct figure. The chief minister’s 410 was a slip of the tongue,” said a staffer from the Chief Minister’s Office. As one was expecting a serious spike in numbers, the health department’s evening bulletin showed that the rise was only six new cases, taking the total to 390. It was 20 less than what the chief minister stated and 11 less than what Dr Sudhakar announced.

The government, however, tried to explain that too. “The Medical Education Minister gets real-time updates from various labs and has access to more information. The health ministry releases data after compiling it from all labs. The number quoted by Sudhakar — 401 — is correct and it will be included in Monday’s morning bulletin,” a source from the CMO said. The confusion begs the question whether it was a break in the communication system or a deliberate attempt to hide the actual data from the public eye. Guess, we will never know the answer in full, but, it seemed, so did the CM and health department.