Centre "Running Cover-Up" Since Start Of Pandemic: Delhi Minister Manish Sisodia

Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia said the Delhi government "wanted to account for the reason behind deaths" during the pandemic and had constituted a "Death Audit Committee", but the centre rejected the plan.

The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government in Delhi on Tuesday accused the Centre of a "cover-up" since the outbreak of COVID-19 and not allowing it to "account for reasons behind deaths" during the pandemic. Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia made the charges in a statement, after Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya rejected the allegation of under-reporting of Covid deaths and told Parliament that the Centre had not asked any state to show fewer numbers of deaths or less positive cases. In the statement, Mr Sisodia said there was a shortage of medical oxygen during the peak of the COVID-19 second wave. "The central government has been running a cover-up since the very start of the pandemic. It is because of their flawed policy and implementation that the country had to endure an oxygen crisis during the toughest phase of the pandemic," he said.