Is govt. shying away from giving exact figures?

It could be detrimental, since State cannot ask Centre for actual support required, say officials

Under-reporting of COVID-19 cases and deaths in Telangana is again the topic of discussion among highly placed officials in the government and the medical fraternity. The same issue was the centre of focus last year too. Though officials in the top levels are tight-lipped about the scale of under-reporting, they have confirmed that the numbers are higher than what is being presented in the daily media bulletins issued by the State Health department. Several officers that The Hindu contacted spoke on the condition of anonymity even as they admitted that the condition in the State was turning worse by the day. Some even compared Telangana to neighbouring Maharashtra and Gujarat in terms of the sharp spike in the number of coronavirus infections. Senior officers at the State level have even instructed district-level officers to refrain from issuing health bulletins, so that there is no conflict between the State government’s daily COVID-19 bulletin and district-level updates.