Cases declining, but deaths still above 4,000; indicative of lack of medical facility: Chidambaram

The daily Covid-19 death figure remains above 4,000 despite a declining case positivity, indicating a lack of medical care, Senior Congress leader P Chidambaram said Friday, inviting a prompt reply from Health Minister Harsh Vardhan who accused him of raising "unnecessary doubts" out of political compulsions.

Vardhan also said that each death was unfortunate and the government was making every effort to fight the pandemic. He said as cases were declining, recoveries have started rising and mortalities would decline soon too.

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"The number tested is also around 20 lakh per day. If the positivity rate is coming down, why is the number of deaths above 4000 per day? Is it because of lack of proper medical care because of shortage of oxygen, medicines, ventilators, hospital beds etc," Chidambaram asked on Twitter.

"The Medical experts who are giving numerous interviews should answer the following questions: When the number of daily fresh infections has come down from 4 lakh+ to 2.5 lakh+, why is the number of deaths still above 4000 per day," the Congress leader also asked.

Vardhan replied to him on Twitter, saying, "Such a travesty! Political compulsions forcing Sh P Chidambaram Ji to raise such questions."

"By order of toolkit party I am sure… Certainly he's privy to general knowledge that time duration between contracting COVID19 and recovery/mortality mostly exceeds a few weeks," he said.

“Why raise unnecessary doubts? As cases have been declining, recoveries have started reflecting an upward trajectory, and the mortalities shall show a decline too," he said.

"Each death is most unfortunate, GoI is moving heaven and earth to fight this pandemic," Vardhan said.

India has seen over 4,000 deaths for the past few days even as the number of fresh Covid cases has come down to 2,59,551 from over 4 lakh a few days ago.