Lucknow: Amidst the reports that actual deaths due to Coronavirus in Uttar Pradesh capital Lucknow have been underreported, a shocking video from the city’s cremation ground is being widely shared on Twitter and other social media platforms.
The video claimed to be showing visuals of cremation ground at Bhaisakund near Gomti River Bank in Lucknow one can see flames all around – indicating a huge number of funeral pyre on fire.
The viral video from Lucknow’s cremation ground surfaced amid the reports of mismatch between the official figure of deaths because of COVID-19 and the death count at crematoriums, triggering allegations that the UP government has been underreporting the coronavirus situation in the city and elsewhere in the state.
Visuals of cremation ground at Bhaisakund near Gomti river bank in #Lucknow #COVIDSecondWave #COVID19India pic.twitter.com/P3T5oVSWsk— Arvind Chauhan (@arvindcTOI) April 14, 2021
Visuals of cremation ground at Bhaisakund near Gomti river bank in #Lucknow #COVIDSecondWave #COVID19India pic.twitter.com/P3T5oVSWsk
As per the records maintained by the city's crematoriums, over 400 people who died because of the virus had been cremated in the last seven days. However, the official death count releaed by the state government is just 124, according to NDTV.
On April 13, the government's official death count was 18, but 86 bodies were cremated. On April 12, 86 were cremated; the official figure was 21. A day before that, 57 bodies were cremated; the official death count was 31. Similarly, on April 10, 59 bodies were cremated against the official death figure of 23, the NDTV said.
In response to the discrepancies in official records, UP government said Covid victims from neighbouring districts and other states were also being cremated in Lucknow.
In a letter that surfaced on social media, Uttar Pradesh Law Minister Brajesh Pathak has lashed out at health authorities in the state, complaining that beds for coronavirus patients are falling short and ambulances take hours to arrive in Lucknow.
"It is with extreme pain that I am informing that currently in Lucknow district, the condition of health services is extremely worrying. For the past one week, I have been getting hundreds of phone calls from the entire Lucknow district,” Pathak wrote in the letter as reported by FirstPost.
"In the current COVID-related circumstances, when every day 4,000 to 5,000 coronavirus patients are detected in the district, the number of beds in COVID hospitals is very less,” Pathak said.
He said the situation is worse for non-COVID patients such as those suffering from diseases like cancer and heart ailments, or those who require dialysis. Such patients are not getting treated in time due to the pandemic, he said. “We have to seriously look into the provisions for admitting such patients."
In another viral video, residents of Lucknow are seen in a long queue climbing over one another for RT-PCT test at Civil Hospital in Lucknow, which is under Night Curfew and could be in for a Complete Lockdown.
Night curfew in Lucknow#nightcurfew #Lucknow pic.twitter.com/IdGEeKQ8Td— Gajendra Singh (@Gajendrahdi) April 8, 2021
Night curfew in Lucknow#nightcurfew #Lucknow pic.twitter.com/IdGEeKQ8Td
People are rushing for Covid test as reports coming from different parts of the city claimed that the hospitals are refusing to attend patients if they are not tested for the deadly virus.
Images of Sushil Kumar Srivastava, a senior citizen residing in Lucknow's Aliganj area, with oxygen cylinder is also taking the social media by storm.
Srivastava is a sugar patient who also takes regular medicines for blood pressure. Earlier this week, he experienced difficulty in breathing. Family members rushed him to the Vivekananda Hospital, which is where he was treated regularly. Doctors at the Vivekananda Hospital refused to examine the senior citizen without a Covid-19 test, India Today said in a report.
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