Days after the Kumbh Mela, it was revealed that nearly 1 lakh Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19) test reports issued during the Kumbh Mela were forged and fake.
The revelation of the fake COVID-19 reports came after a detailed investigation into the COVID-19 reports submitted during the Kumbh Mela in 2021.
The Uttarakhand Health Department confirmed the same and found that 1 lakh test reports were forged by a private testing agency. In order to justify their allegations, they mentioned in many cases, a single phone number was used to register 50 people and one antigen test kit, which was meant for single use had tested more than 700 samples.
In addition, an official who is a part of the ongoing investigation and wishes to be anonymous said, “Addresses and names were fictional. Almost 530 samples were taken from ‘House Number 5’ in Haridwar. Is it possible for a house to have over 500 residents? Bizarre addresses have been given — House number 56 Aligarh, House number 76 Mumbai.”
Many of the registered phone numbers are fake and in many cases, many people shared the same phone number despite being in 18 different locations.
Dr. Arjun Singh, the Kumbh Mela Health Officer said, “Agency was supposed to submit these collected samples to two private labs, which are also under investigation.”
As of now, the investigation report of 1,600 pages has been forwarded to the District Magistrate of Haridwar, C. Ravishankar.
Amit Negi, the Health Secretary of Haridwar said,“Several irregularities have been found. We will take action after receiving a detailed report from the DM in 15 days.”
Meanwhile, C. Ravishankar is investigating the matter and pending payment of all agencies has been put on hold until further notice.
The investigation into the fake test reports started as per the direction of the District Administration of Haridwar after several allegations of fake reports were issued. As per the allegations, several fake COVID-19 reports were issued by private laboratories engaged by the Uttarakhand Government to conduct tests during the Kumbh Mela. Preliminary investigations into the alleged irregularities had been conducted by Chief Controlling Officer of Covid Cases Abhishek Tripathi, who recommended a detailed probe into the matter.
According to sources, the 22 private laboratories engaged to conduct tests by the State Government forged the tests to meet 50,000 tests target, set by the Uttarakhand High Court.
After the revelation of the fake reports, netizens expressed outrage and posted tweets with #Kumbh.
Some of the tweets:
“This level and kind of Fraud perpetrated in the backdrop of #Kumbh is a heinous crime and the people involved need to be named and shamed! @IshitaMishraTOI”
“One often suspects this sort of data manipulation but hopes it’s not true-
Private labs entrusted with Covid tests simply collected Aadhaar and mobile numbers to produce fake test results during Maha Kumbh to meet targets; Uttarakhand govt orders probe.”
“A govt-enabled super-spreader event that had this adjacent fraud going in India
Private labs entrusted with Covid tests simply collected Aadhaar (national digital ID) and mobile numbers to produce fake test results during Maha Kumbh to meet targets.”
“Many of the almost 4 lakh Covid tests done by the state government during the recently-concluded Maha Kumbh in Haridwar may have been fake.”
So much for all the claims the superspreader event would be carefully Covid-safe because of tests.”
“1 lakh Covid-19 tests during Kumbh festival are FAKE
This Govt is all about –
FAKE NEWS
FUDGED DATA.”
One of the world’s largest religious gatherings, the Kumbh was held in the State from the 1st of April to the 30th of April. Millions of people gathered at the Mela which covered Haridwar, Dehradun and Tehri districts in Uttarakhand.
