Gross under-reporting of COVID deaths in Pakistan; only 20-25% being reported: Najam Sethi

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Veteran Pakistani journalist and former Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) Chairman Najam Sethi has torn into Imran Khan government for instructing hospitals to under-report coronavirus deaths. On his official YouTube channel, Sethi has claimed that only 20 - 25 per cent of deaths related to COVID-19 are being reported in Pakistan. 

"There is a gross under-reporting of official coronavirus deaths in Pakistan. Only 20-25 per cent deaths are being reported. This is being done as per government's instructions to the hospitals to under-report the deaths," Sethi said. 

Speaking on the Imran Khan government's intentions behind this, Sethi goes on to say, "The government doesn't want people to know the real number of deaths because of the official policy of not going under strict lockdown. The high number of deaths is because of the government's decision to not inflict a strict lockdown."

"Causes of deaths are being reported other than coronavirus. For example, a person dies of coronavirus, they would report the cause of death as blood clotting or heart attack, with little regard to the fact that situation was reached at because the patient was suffering from COVID-19," he added. 

He also said that a lot of people in Pakistan are not getting their tests done due to the fear of coronavirus, and because they don't want people to know that they are not observing quarantine properly. 

As per Worldometer figures, Pakistan currently has 98,943 coronavirus cases and over 2,000 deaths. If this number is, going by what Najam Sethi says, 20-25% of the actual figure, the overall cases and deaths are far more than what Pakistan is portraying.