New Delhi, Sep 16 (PTI) The government called the recent New York Times article on India's Covid response a "provocative, attention seeking" piece that comes at a time when the country is doing well in tackling the pandemic.

Also Read | World Ozone Day 2021: Adverse Economic Impacts Should Appropriately Be Addressed Under Kigali Amendment, Says MoS Ashwini Kumar Choubey.

The article claimed that the "ICMR tailored its findings to fit Prime Minister Narendra Modi's optimistic narrative despite a looming crisis".

Also Read | UPSC Admit Card 2021 for Civil Services Prelims Released, Candidates Can Download Hall Ticket Online at upsc.gov.in.

Responding to a question at a press briefing, ICMR Director General Dr Balram Bhargava said, "This is a provocative, attention seeking article published at a time when India is doing good and our vaccination is excellent and it is diverting attention. All the issues raised are dead ones and probably do not merit any attention."

Union Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan said the Union government as well as the state governments are fully emerged in fighting a pandemic and all our energies and time is devoted to that.

"We greatly value journalistic and editorial freedom and at the same time we must also realise that all of us - Union government as well as the state governments - are fully emerged in fighting a pandemic and all our energies and time is devoted to that," he said.

"We cannot afford to be diverted by things that can be addressed at a later day which are not priority from the public health point of view," Bhushan said.

NITI Aayog Member (Health) Dr V K Paul condemned the article.

"We actually condemn this type of distorted out of context reporting. This is not desirable and it should not happen," he said.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)