The state of Telangana was reprimanded by the Center last year, for downplaying the number of Coronavirus cases in the state, and for not testing enough, The Telangana High Court had called out the government on this issue as well, after which the government started doing more tests.
Once again, it seems like the Telangana government is doing is the same thing this year too, in the wake of the second wave of the virus. According to a survey conducted by a media house, the Telangana government is downplaying the number of new cases registered in the state by at least 66%. The government is said to be slashing down the number of cases reported by district-level health officials, drastically.
On April 17th, as many as 4,868 new cases were reported in the state, in the 13 districts of Telangana. However, in the media bulletin that the state government released to the public, the number of cases mentioned was just 1,627.
Previously, the district-level officials of the Medical and Health Department were the ones that released this statement to the public. It is now learned that these officials have been directed by the District collectors, to upload and submit the caseload data online, only to the state-level officials.