Prashant Kishor alleges mishandling of COVID in India, blames govt's short-sightedness

Election strategist Prashant Kishor took a jibe at the Centre for the alleged mishandling of the COVID-19 pandemic and blamed the government's short-sightedness and mismanagement for the suffering caused by the pandemic. As India recorded over three lakh COVID cases on Saturday, the poll-strategist claimed that 'whimsical and badly managed' lockdown during the first wave of COVID in 2020 had created more human sufferings and tragedies than the pandemic itself. Prashant Kishor went on to point out that the lack of medical oxygen, hospital beds and other drugs was causing more deaths than the virus during the second wave of the pandemic. The poll-strategist claimed that the Centre's mismanagement & short-sightedness were the common factors during both COVID waves and alleged that the pandemic situation was being mishandled in India. 

Prashant Kishor alleges 'mishandling' of COVID in India 

Health Ministry takes stock

Shortly after PM-CM meeting, Union Health Minister Dr Harsh Vardhan held a high-level meeting with officials of the Health Ministry and representatives of major government-run hospitals operating as COVID-19 centres. In the meeting on Friday morning, the process of ramping up health infrastructure and increasing the number of beds in each hospital, assuming a sharp increase in daily days in the coming days, was discussed. Harsh Vardhan also listed out the steps taken by the Centre to tackle the oxygen crisis, for which the governments have also been pulled by the Delhi High Court. 

On the oxygen crisis, Harsh Vardhan highlighted that the Prime Minister has been holding marathon meetings with stakeholders to ensure a sufficient supply of medical oxygen wherever required. He informed that the Central Government has set up control rooms at the highest level, headed by senior officials, to ensure that the allotted quota of medical oxygen by the Centre reaches the designated State. Delhi has been battling with an acute oxygen shortage.

India records over 3 lakh COVID cases in 24 hours

Meanwhile, according to the Union Health Ministry data updated on Friday, India recorded a single-day rise of 3,32,730 new cases, taking the tally to 1,62,63,695, while active cases crossed the 24-lakh mark. The death toll increased to 1,86,920 with a record 2,263 new fatalities. Registering a steady increase, the active cases increased to24,28,616 comprising 14.93 per cent of the total infections, while the national COVID-19 recovery rate has further dropped to 83.92 per cent. The number of people who have recuperated from the disease surged to 1,36, 48,159, while the case fatality rate has further dropped to 1.15 per cent, the data stated.