New Delhi, Jun 23 (IANS): Congress general Secretary on Tuesday once again slammed the Uttar Pradesh government over the rising deaths due to novel coronavirus (Covid-19) in Agra and said that the death rate in the Taj city is much more than that of Delhi and Mumbai and questioned the Agra model.

"The death rate from Covid-19 in Agra is higher than that of Delhi and Mumbai. Here the death rate of patients from Covid-19 is 6.8 per cent. Of the 79 patients who lost their lives from Covid-19 here, a total of 35 per cent i.e. 28 people died within 48 hours of hospitalization. Who is responsible for spreading the lie of Agra model in these odd situation?" Priyanka Gandhi, who is also the in-charge of the eastern Uttar Pradesh said in a series of tweets in Hindi attaching a news report.

"The Chief Minister should clarify this to the public within 48 hours and create accountability on the condition and number of Covid-19 patients being manipulated," she said in another tweet also attaching a government order from the Chief Minister's Office dated June 18 to the district administrations to present the Covid-19 death rate accurately.

On Monday, Priyanka Gandhi had questioned the Yogi Adityanath government in the state over the death of 28 Covid-19 patients in Agra in the last 48 hours and accused the government of trying to bury the truth by propagating the "Agra model".

"In Agra, 28 Covid patients died who were admitted in the last 48 hours. How shameful this is for the UP government that they tried to bury the truth by propagating this model. Questions were raised on government's no test, no corona policy but the government did not answer," Priyanka Gandhi, who is also party in-charge of eastern Uttar Pradesh, said in a series of tweets attaching a news report.

"If the UP government continues to act carelessly, consequences are going to be very dangerous," she said in another tweet. According to news reports, at least 28 Covid-19 patients died in Agra's SN Medical College (SNMC) in the last 48 hours.

However, Agra DM on Monday reacted sharply to a tweet by the Congress general gecretary in which she claimed that 28 deaths have been reported within 48 hours in the city. DM Prabhu Narain Singh, in a letter emailed to Priyanka Gandhi, said that these claims were "baseless and misleading".

The letter also said, "Corona warriors and fighters are working round the clock to check the spread of the pandemic and such reports will serve to demoralize them and also have an adverse impact on the common man."

The district magistrate asked Priyanka Gandhi to issue a corrigendum within 24 hours so that the truth would be known to the people.

He said 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 added.