Senior Congress leader Anand Sharma on Wednesday questioned the Union government's claim that the nationwide lockdown prevented up to 29 lakh coronavirus cases and lack of data on assistance to and deaths of migrant labourers.

"The Health Minister said that this decision (lockdown) prevented 14-29 lakh COVID-19 cases and 37,000-78,000 deaths. This House must be told what is the scientific basis on which we have reached this conclusion," the Rajya Sabha member said. He called it a "very wide gap".