BJP leader blames states for Covid second wave

BJP spokesperson Sudesh Verma has claimed that the centre had warned about the forthcoming second wave in early March and directed the states to prepare. Despite several warnings, the states have not geared up their medical facilities, he said.

New Delhi: At a time when the country has been facing an acute shortage of basic medical facilities in hospitals, Bhartiya Janata Party has termed the situation as an 'artificial crisis' created by the states.

The saffron party has claimed that the centre had warned about the second wave in early March and directed the states to prepare. Despite several warnings, the states have not geared up their medical facilities, it said.

The remarks by BJP spokesperson Sudesh Verma comes when the country is facing an acute shortage of oxygen, beds, ventilators in several states including Gujarat and Uttar Pradesh which are governed by the saffron party.

Sighting the four press releases issued by the Press Information Bureau during February 2021- March 2021, he highlighted that the centre had issued several advisories to the states but they had not given any heed to the directions.

"Prime Minister Narendra Modi had already warned them to scale up the facilities at the hospital and advised to built makeshift hospitals. At that time, the states had demanded a 'free hand' to deal with the virus. Now, when the situation turned deadly, they (States) blame the centre for the ongoing situation", Verma told ETV Bharat.

However, several states including Delhi and Maharashtra blamed the centre of not cooperating and demanded a smooth supply of oxygen and vaccines.

Meanwhile, the number of daily coronavirus cases in India hit a record high with over 3.14 lakh new infections being reported, pushing the total tally of COVID-19 cases to 1,59,30,965 on Thursday.

A total of 3,14,835 fresh infections were registered in a span of 24 hours, while the death toll increased to 1,84,657 with a record 2,104 new fatalities.

Registering a steady increase, the active cases have increased to 22,91,428 comprising 14.38 per cent of the total infections, while the national COVID-19 recovery rate has dropped to 84.46 per cent.