COVID-19 related deaths under-reported in Gujarat: Chidambaram

New Delhi, Apr 19: Congress leader P Chidambaram on Monday alleged that several coronavirus-caused deaths are being under-reported in Gujarat. Citing several media reports, the Congress leader said 'COVID-caused deaths are being misreported as caused by cardiac arrest, chronic diabetes'.

He said while Gujarat officially reported 78 COVID-caused deaths on Friday (April 17), the media reported that 689 bodies were cremated in seven cities alone following the COVID protocol. "That is the Gujarat model!" added Chidambaram.

On Sunday, India reported 2,61,500 fresh COVID-19 cases, the highest single-day spike ever, pushing the country's overall COVID tally to 1,47,88,109, according to the Health Ministry data released.

The country has been recording over two lakh Covid cases every day for the past few days. India recorded 2,34,692 cases were reported on Saturday, 2,00,739, and 2,17,353 cases on Thursday and Friday respectively.