Amaravati: TDP chief N Chandrababu Naidu alleges fake figures on Covid tests

Amaravati: TDP president N Chandrababu Naidu alleged that the state government was misleading people by inflating test figures for Covid-19 pandemic and mishandling the crisis.

"Shocked that a govt can stoop to such level to cover its failures. One Million Covid tests narrative woven by the AP govt is either a sham or scam. I request the Centre to look into this immediately and expose the criminal motive behind the 'SMS Testing Racket' run by the Govt", he tweeted on Monday.

He further added that the Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy government has cheated people and the Centre regarding Covid testing numbers from the beginning. Citing a video from Anantapur district, he said people who had not even given their samples have received SMS declaring them to be negative or positive.

Reacting to Naidu's allegation on Anantapur incident, state health and medical department said through its official Twitter handle @ArogyaAndhra that SMSes go to the number given by the person seeking Covid test. "If they give the wrong number or someone else's number SMS goes to that number.

AP govt introduced this unique way of sending test results by SMS reducing panic in people about their test results," it said.

It said, "In a million messages finding fault in a few messages that too not due to the fault of govt is unnecessary amid this Covid-19 pandemic".

TDP national general secretary Nara Lokesh, posting a vide of dead body of a patient being handled with an earthmover allegedly at Tirupati, expressed shock over the incident.