Chirag Paswan rings alarm on Bihar Covid situation: ‘Becoming explosive’

After echoing the Opposition RJD’s demand for postponing the Assembly polls in Bihar amid a surge in Covid cases, LJP president and Jamui MP Chirag Paswan on Saturday was again on the same page as the Opposition by calling the situation in the state “explosive”.

Leader of Opposition Tejashwi Prasad Yadav said there was a threat of Bihar becoming the “national and even global hotspot” — cases in the state have surged from 10,205 on July 1 to 24,967 on Saturday.

While both Union minister Ram Vilas Paswan and his son Chirag Paswan kept praising the Prime Minister as the JD(U) continued to target the LJP president, Chirag continued his veiled attack on the Nitish Kumar government.

Thanking the Centre and PM Narendra Modi for sending a multi-disciplinary team to Bihar, Chirag Paswan tweeted, “The way corona is spreading in Bihar with the situation becoming explosive, it was a matter of serious concern. Under the given circumstances, the Central government has decided to send a team to control the situation.”

RJD



leader Tejashwi Prasad Yadav said, “There is a strong possibility of Bihar emerging as a national and even global hotspot of Covid in the coming months. How long can they hide cases?... How Covid patients are being treated is known to everyone. We have been hearing complaints of patients' relatives fixing oxygen cylinders at ICUs. There has been a long queue for testing Covid cases as well.”

Saying that lockdown “cannot just be a pause button”, Tejashwi said the decision to reimpose curbs will have no meaning if testing is not increased amid the high positivity rate, which recently touched 13 per cent. He said the state needed a large number of oxygen concentrators and beds with oxygen cylinders.

However, Bihar health minister Mangal Pandey said, “The state government has already put in place 441 Covid care centres and four hospitals have been converted into dedicated centres.” Deputy CM Sushil Kumar Modi said, “Our current focus is treatment of Covid cases... There have been constraints and challenges but efforts are being made at every level.”