Amid Covid-19 pandemic, the data mismatch question in Bengaluru

The information on Covid-19 caseload released by the Karnataka government is often as much as 72 hours old, even though current data on the pandemic situation is available at the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA).

An authoritative health officer said that this is being done to avoid “creating panic” among people. According to the NDMA, the state had 3,99,656 confirmed Covid-19 cases as of 5.30 am on Saturday. However, the state’s Covid-19 bulletin on Saturday evening shows a caseload of 3,89,232, which is 10,424 cases less than the NDMA figure.

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In Bengaluru Urban, the disclosed total number of cases as of Friday was 1,41,664. However, the NDMA puts the city’s caseload at 1,45,246.

Dr Arundathi Chandrashekar, Chief Surveillance Officer, Department of Health and Family Welfare, acknowledged that the NDMA’s Karnataka figures are accurate, clarifying that they originate from the Covid-19 portal managed by the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR).

“The discrepancy in figures published in the daily media bulletin is due to the fact that we only update the bulletin from 7 am to 3 pm. Any cases after that are pushed forward,” Dr Arundathi said.

However, sources working with the government said the state is “micromanaging” the information, even though it has actionable information that can be released.

A source in the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) said that while Bengaluru had crossed the one lakh Covid cases landmark on August 19, this was actually made public only two days later, on August 21.

“This is no reason not to disclose such information as it had been verified,” the source said.

This is backed up by a recent and internally published state government document, which says that 279 people have died of Covid-19 in Bengaluru between August 25 and 31. However, the government has publicly acknowledged and provided details of 168 so far.

“The intention is to avoid creating panic,” said a health officer working at the state level, who did not want to be identified.

“This has its origins in a March 2020 guideline issued by the World Health Organisation (WHO) which called on governments not to disclose all case numbers and deaths to the public to prevent panic. Unfortunately, we are now at a stage of the epidemic where disclosure is needed to give the public a true picture of the outbreak,” the officer added.

Dr Arundathi said the central government has granted states a disparity leeway of between 10,000 and 15,000 cases when it comes to publishing daily figures. “If the disparity is more than this, it indicates a problem,” she said.