Brushing aside the allegations made by TDP president N. Chandrababu Naidu, the Group of Ministers which is monitoring the COVID-19 said the official data was accurate and it was Mr. Naidu who was unable to properly assess the gravity of the situation as he was staying in Hyderabad.
During a formal interaction with mediapersons on Wednesday, Health Minister Alla Kali Krishna Srinivas challenged Mr. Naidu to prove his charge that the number of cases reported by the government was a gross understatement of facts.
Minister for Municipal Administration and Urban Development Botsa Satyanarayana said while the State government was making its best efforts to prevent further spread of the virus, Mr. Naidu and his son were trying to derive political mileage by making baseless allegations.
The testing capacity was being doubled from 2,000 to 4,000 per day.
The second phase of ration distribution would start on April 16 and salaries were being paid to emergency staff, Mr. Satyanarayana said, suggesting to the TDP leaders to refrain from playing politics during the crisis.
