BJP, Congress Accuse Odisha Of Reducing COVID-19 Testing From 15,000 Samples A Day To Less Than 3,000

In a political upsurge, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Congress party have slammed the Odisha Government led by Chief Minister (CM) Naveen Patnaik over alleged scaling down the testing of COVID-19 samples in the State, reports Hindustan Times.

BJP's state president Golak Mahapatra has lambasted at the Government and claimed that the testing rate in the State has come down from 15,000 samples a day to less than 3,000 samples a day in the last few weeks.

Mohapatra said, "On 15 June, a total of 2,988 tests were conducted, on 14 June the number of tests were 2,499. The number of tests is going down over the weeks."

Meanwhile, accusing the BJP and Congress of playing politics at the time of the pandemic, ruling Biju Janata Dal (BJD) spokesperson Dr Sasmit Patra that the testing activity in the State is being conducted as per the guidelines issued by the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) and the Government of India.

The state, as per the data provided by the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, has so far reported 4,163 positive cases, of which 1,178 are currently active. Eleven people have also passed away due to the viral disease, while 2,974 have been fully recovered.

Meanwhile, it should be noted that the neighbouring State of Andhra Pradesh is testing as many as 15,000 samples a day.