Thiruvananthapuram, May 26 (IANS): Union Minister of State for External Affairs V. Muraleedharan has raised doubts over the number of Covid deaths being reported every day by the Kerala Government.

He noted in his Facebook post that the Kerala government time and again has claimed that the number of Covid deaths in the state is the least when compared to the rest of the country.

"But it has come to a stage that the figures read out by Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan in his daily press meet do not tally with the figures brought out by the doctors at the Medical College hospital, in the state capital. According to them on May 12 at their hospital, there were 70 Covid deaths. But that day according to the official figures in the capital district, the number of Covid deaths was 14 and in the state, it was 95," says the Union Minister.

Muraleedharan asks one wishes to know what happened to the 56 dead here.

"These doctors point out that there was no space to keep the dead bodies at the mortuary, here. Wish to know why it happened. All wish to know who is lying, is it the government or the doctors?" asked Muraleedharan.

He said that there is a general talk about the Covid death figures of the state and it has also been pointed out by many that the obituary reports in newspapers has also increased.

The Kerala government should ensure that things are done in the proper manner and should not do anything to play to the gallery, he said.

"Putting out 'wrong' figures will be counterproductive, as the people here might get a feel, that everything in the state is fine. What's more significant is that the media, here so far has not taken up the wrong reporting of deaths, while similar happenings in North India are being reported in the front pages here," said Muraleedharan and expected that the new Leader of Opposition V.D. Satheesan will take this up in the assembly.

Incidentally all along the number of Covid deaths that was reported in the state hovered around the daily average of 30 to 35, but it started to rise since the start of May and crossed the 100 mark and on Monday 196 deaths were reported, while on Tuesday it stood at 177.

Moreover Vijayan for the first time last week had expressed caution that in the coming weeks the number of deaths is likely to go up further.

Till Wednesday, according to the official figures, the total number of Covid deaths in the state stands at 7,731 and this is what Muraleedharan has expressed doubts on it.