Reacting to the Opposition’s attack on Centre for not revealing the actual number of covid-19 fatalities during the second wave, Union Health Minister Dr Mansukh Mandaviya on Friday said that all states were asked for their respective death numbers. Out of the 19 states that responded to this request, Mandviya said, only Punjab reported 4 “suspected’ deaths due to oxygen shortage.
Opposition MPs on Friday staged a protest outside the Parliament over the suspension of 12 Rajya Sabha MPs who were shunted out on Monday due to their “unruly” conduct in the previous session. The Opposition has described the suspension as “undemocratic and in violation of all the Rules of Procedure” of the Upper House.
The Opposition parties on Thursday had hit out at the government over its Covid-19 management, slow pace of vaccination and mishandling the second wave. It also demanded that international flights be immediately stopped in view of the new Omicron strain.
In the Lok Sabha, they also demanded that the government should inform the House about the roadmap to vaccinations and clarify the number of actual deaths caused by the virus. This happened amid the government hailing Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s work in combatting the pandemic.