India’s COVID-19 Figures In Doubt Over Difference In Number Of Cases Reported By Various Bodies

The issue of anomalies in COVID-19 data was raised at a meeting between Union Cabinet Secretary Rajiv Gauba and state health secretaries on Sunday (26 April), Indian Express reported.

It was observed in a presentation made during the meeting that the figures of confirmed cases across states and Union Territories (UTs) differed in the data collated by the National Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) and the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR). The difference in numbers raised questions if cases were being missed out due to this.

At 8:00 am on 26 April, the NCDC said India had 26,496 total confirmed cases, whereas the figure was at 27,583 according to the ICMR -- a difference of 1,087 cases.

In as many as 21 states or UTs, the ICMR reported the number of cases to be higher than what was shown by the NCDC at the aforementioned time. The highest difference of 1,220 cases was seen in the figures from Maharashtra where the ICMR reported the confirmed cases at 8,848, while the NCDC said the state only had 7,628 cases.

Other states with significant difference in number of cases as shown by both the bodies are Gujarat and West Bengal.

The figures provided by both the ICMR and the NCDC only matched in eight states or UTs that were five states from the Northeast and the Union Territories of Dadar and Nagar Haveli, Daman and Diu and Lakshadweep. Interestingly, four of these eight states or UTs have no cases at all.

However, there a eight states where the figures recorded by the NCDC are higher than those provided by the ICMR. In Delhi, while the NCDC’s data shows 2,625 confirmed cases, the ICMR figure is 2,155. Other such states are Uttar Pradesh (UP) and Madhya Pradesh (MP).