Correct. Also, between March 2020 and December 2020 there was no progress at all, while they kept receiving 20,000 applications a month. They accumulated around 200,000. This was the first backlog. Then their slow processing has made the backlog to snowball over time. What do expect when each oath ceremony host 30-50 people, and it's done once or twice a week?
What they care about is what to do to show they are doing good? They ignored 2019 applications, and started with late applications, to meet their targets for 2020 and 2021, as you have guessed. We are mere numbers for their advantage only. We don't exist as humans to them.