Priyanka Gandhi asked to withdraw claim about Covid-19 deaths in Agra within 24 hours

PTI, Jun 23, 2020, 5:36 PM IST

New Delhi: Terming it “misleading and false”, the Agra administration has asked Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra to withdraw the claim regarding coronavirus deaths in the district within 24 hours.

Tagging a media report, the Congress leader had on Monday tweeted that 28 coronavirus patients died within 48 hours of hospitalisation in Agra. She had described it as a “matter of shame” for the Uttar Pradesh government, accusing it of suppressing the truth.

In an e-mail to the Congress leader on Monday, Agra District Magistrate Prabhu Narain Singh told her to take back the claim within 24 hours, saying the allegations are “baseless and misleading”.

“The Twitter post prima facie has created doubts and sent a message among people that 28 corona patients have died in 48 hours,” The DM said in the letter to Priyanka Gandhi, shared by the Adviser to the Chief Minister, Mrityunjay Kumar.

The DM said such reports will “serve to demoralise” the corona warriors working round the clock to check the spread of the virus and also have an “adverse impact” on the common man.

“The reality is that in the past 109 days, Agra has reported 1,139 cases, of which 79 have succumbed to the virus. The report of 28 deaths in 48 hours is completely false,” he said.

Therefore, in public interest, ensure the denial of misleading/false claim in 24 hours so that all people could get the knowledge of the right situation, the DM said.