The Chalakudy police in Thrissur district of Kerala has arrested Father Poli Padayatty, the clergy of Nithya Sahaya Matha Church, on Monday for conducting ‘Holy Mass’ around 6:00 a.m. in violation of guidelines against mass gatherings in the wake of COVID-19 outbreak.
https://twitter.com/ANI/status/1242007233879146496?ref_src=twsrc%5EtfwThe cops also made the Father sanitise his hands prior to his arrest. The police have also pressed charges against 100 other people who participated in the Holy Mass.
Earlier, authorities at Cochin in Kerala had registered a case against 75 unknown persons and 4 others who had gathered at the Cochin International airport to welcome Bigg Boss Malayalam Season 2’s most popular contestant Rajith Kumar. The charges were invoked for violating the ban on mass gathering issues by the airport authority in the backdrop of coronavirus pandemic.
Around 67 people have been diagnosed with coronavirus in the State of Kerala, as of March 22. Following the third confirmed case, the Kerala Government has declared the outbreak as a ‘state disaster’. People had been evading tests, hiding travel histories and fleeing hospitals, which in turn is making the situation worse.
In one such case, a couple (in their 50s) and their son(24) who hail from Ranni in Pathanamthitta district of Kerala with recent travel history to Italy evaded health screening at the airport and were reluctant to get admitted at the hospital initially. They have tested positive for coronavirus.