Former Finance Minister P. Chidambaram on Sunday asked the government to release uniform figures after there was a huge discrepancy in the Saturday’s number of COVID-19 positive case released by the Ministry of Health and the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR).
In a series of tweets, he asked the government to explain the difference in figures of cases released by the States, the Health Ministry and the ICMR.
Also read: Data | How fast are India's coronavirus cases doubling since the lockdown?
“Numbers of positive cases put out today by the States, by ICMR and by Ministry of Health are conflicting and confusing. Usually, States’ total is the highest, followed by ICMR number, followed by M/Health’s number. Today, it is the other way around,” the senior Congress leader said.
On Saturday, the ICMR reported a huge spike in cases and the figure of positive cases stood at 16,365 while the State governments put together had reported 15,667 cases.
Also read: Coronavirus lockdown: How can the poor survive without cash in hands, asks Chidambaram
“I rely on the dashboard jointly hosted by M/Health and ICMR. The difference between the dashboard number and ICMR’s number for April 18 is an astonishing 1,573. Will the M/Health and ICMR reconcile their reports from the States and report a uniform number every day,” asked Mr. Chidambaram.
