99% Covid death during second wave could be avoided: Rahul Gandhi

On Tuesday, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi has stated that 99% of Covid-19 death could have been avoided because the patients could have been saved if oxygen or drugs were available. He requested for a commission to look into “what went wrong” in the government’s strategy and emphasised that a Covid-19 compensation fund must be created to help families who lost their bread-earners.

Releasing a white paper on Covid-19 prepared by the Congress’ research department, Gandhi said that “vaccination should be done on war footing” because inoculating 60% or 70% of the population is not sufficient. Rahul Gandhi further said, “There are two types of Covid-19 deaths. Deaths that are needless in the sense those could have been saved. The other type of death is when there is high comorbidity. In the second wave, 90% of deaths were needless because oxygen was not available,” He added, “The PM’s tears can’t wipe off the tears of the victims. People know that oxygen could have saved their near and dear ones. But the PM didn’t take the issue seriously. He had to fight elections,”

In an interview with a leading daily, Rahul Gandhi said that the white paper aims to provide the government with suggestions so that it can be ready when the third wave of the pandemic comes. “The government should not repeat the mistakes it did in the first and second waves. It should be ready with the infrastructure to tackle the third wave,” Gandhi said.