Thiruvananthapuram: KPCC president K Sudhakaran alleged that the state government is continuing hide Covid death toll even after the Supreme Court ordered in favour of providing financial assistance to the relatives of Covid-19 victims. Numerous poor people are denied help amid the government's bid to keep Covid death toll low, he alleged.

The state government should announce that all deaths related to Covid will be reviewed. They claim that Covid deaths reported as per the norms of ICMR and WHO. But the patients are subjected to Covid test at regular intervals and are marked as Covid negative. ICMR and WHO have not directed this. Even if the patients died of post-Covid complications like pneumonia, they are not counted as Covid deaths, Sudhakaran pointed out.

All deserving people will get the financial help if the victims are included in the list of Covid deaths. The government should take immediate action to review the list and ensure the ex-gratia is provided to all eligible people. Kerala is in a pathetic state in terms of positive rate and death toll, though the government claims otherwise, he added.

The Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME), an independent global health research center at the University of Washington, has stated in its report that the death toll shown by the state government is wrong and at least 25,000 deaths could have occurred here. Covid is spreading faster after opening bars and universities, he pointed out.