Home Blog Page 5468

Rajasthan: Women doctors who went to check coronavirus suspects in Jodhpur accused of being CAA-NRC surveyors due to rumours and misinformation

OpIndia Staff
-
0
Rajasthan: Women doctors who went to check coronavirus suspects in Jodhpur accused of being CAA-NRC surveyors due to rumours and misinformation

A medical team with women doctors and auxiliary nurse midwife’s (ANM) were entrusted with the task of searching for patients with suspected coronavirus symptoms in Nagauri Gate and Udayamandir Asan areas in Jodhpur, Rajasthan. Initially, their endeavour was trumped by the residents who suspected them of tacitly collecting data for CAA-NRC and almost hounded them away.

However, with the sheer presence of mind and perseverance, the women medical team managed to gain access to the households and conducted medical tests on the locals. As a result, several coronaviruses positive cases have now been reported from these areas. This team of women medical staff was felicitated by the district collector, Prakash Rajpurohit for accomplishing the impossible. A report in the Dainik Bhaskar has detailed the selfless work done by a team of women corona warriors in Rajasthan.

After learning the accent and style of conversation of the local people, the women’s medical team first won the local peoples’ trust and then collected their blood samples on the pretext of setting up a medical camp for a general health check-up. Dainik Bhaskar got in touch with these women medical warriors who shared their experience with the Hindi daily.

Medical team accused of conducting survey for CAA and NRC:

While speaking to Dainik Bhaskar, Dr Hina Aftab recollected that she had reached Nagauri Gate on March 31. The medical team she was leading were tasked with scouting for people who may have been exposed to the novel coronavirus in the village. “I prepared the survey strategy as soon as I joined there”, said the doctor, “but the real challenge started when the team approached villagers with the intent to educate them with the dos and don’ts and conduct medical tests on as many villagers as we could”, she added.

The locals were evasive and non-cooperative. They all surrounded the team of doctors and started hounding them, asking to leave. They were confused because of the rumoured Whatsapp messages they were receiving on their phones, recounted the doctor. The locals told her that they were tricking them and conducting CAA-NRC survey. As soon as they would give out any kind of personal information, they would be taken away from their village, said the locals. They kept hounding the doctors asking them to leave.

In such a situation, conducting medical tests was a far-fetched idea as they were not even willing to give away the information required to fill the survey form. The team could not gain access to even one household on the first day.

The next day, Dr Aftab got hold of two locals who could speak to them in their local language and convince the residents that they were not surveyors but doctors who were there to save their lives from the pandemic.

We had to first accomplish the mammoth task of gaining their confidence by speaking to them in their accent and language and then clearing their misconceptions. It was only after we succeeded in this, that we were allowed to conduct the medical tests on them, recollected Dr Aftab. After much deliberation, we made the locals understand the importance of washing and sanitising hands and social distancing to save themselves from the coronavirus infection, recounted Dr Aftab.

Team divided themselves into three groups, detected more than 30 cases:

Dr Aftab divided her team into three smaller teams and started approaching the residents in their local way. “This made them understand our point. We started catering to their daily needs of food, medicine and other problems, to gain their trust. Once we succeeded in doing so, we, called them on the pretext of helping her team to set up a medical camp in the community hall. The crowd started gathering there. We started screening them and started taking blood samples of all those who appeared suspicious. As a result, two and more positive cases started coming out every day from the Nagauri Gate district. After filtering out more than 30 cases from here, we are filtering this area again. Survey has been done here thrice. There is a lack of education in this area, due to which they do not cooperate”, said the doctor to Dainik Bhaskar.

Team caught coronavirus positive Ayub Ali holed up in his house:

ANM Shobha of Udayamandir region said that it was a difficult challenge for them to work in the area. She recollects that she had to join the Anganwadi centre, Asha Sahyogini Nargis to conduct the survey with them. She said that she interacted with the locals in their language and gained their trust. She was then informed by few locals that one Ayub Ali, a coronavirus suspect has been hiding in his house. After much hardships, ANM Shobha managed to get Ali’s address and visited his place. He was suffering from a sore throat. Shobha got Ali tested on April 10 and his report came out positive on 12 April. After this, positive cases started coming in this area continuously. “Despite this, people here do not cooperate with us, tell us to go away and accuse us of spreading coronavirus,” said ANM Shobha.

The Coronavirus test slip worked as an invitation card:

ANM Hemlata Vyas recounts how the coronavirus test slips worked as an invitation card for the villagers. She visited locals in Udayamandir region and wrote her number at the back of the coronavirus test slips telling people to get in touch with her if they required free medicines or any other assistance. The locals started contacting her for help. “Eventually, the families started sending their sick family members to the clinic for testing. This strategy worked with these villagers and as a result many coronavirus positive cases were reported from this district,” recounted ANM Hemlata Vyas.

The ground-level health workers express pleasure that their efforts are finally paying off, and coronavirus positive cases are being reported in the area, in addition to increased awareness among the local public over personal hygiene.

As per latest reports, Rajasthan has 969 confirmed cases of the Chinese pandemic. 147 persons have recovered while 3 persons have died so far.

Raghav Bahl’s Quint’s business partner Bloomberg News had killed a report on wealth of Chinese leaders, fired journalist and tried to silence his wife: Report

OpIndia Staff
-
0
Raghav Bahl’s Quint’s business partner Bloomberg News had killed a report on wealth of Chinese leaders, fired journalist and tried to silence his wife: Report

Bloomberg News, owned by Michael Bloomberg who dropped out of US presidential rest after spending almost $1 billion in a bid for Democratic presidential nomination, had killed an investigation into the wealth of Chinese Communist Party leaders, using the now well known notorious non-disclosure agreements that the company forces its employees to sign. Fearing retaliation by Beijing, the publication even tried to get the wife of one of the journalists to sign a non-disclosure agreement, even though she was not associated with them.

What happened

According to a report by NPR, Bloomberg was successful in silencing the reporters who were doing the investigative report six years ago. Journalist Mike Forsythe, the former Beijing correspondent for Bloomberg News, was doing a follow-up story on an award-winning report done in 2012 into the accumulation of wealth by China’s ruling classes. The Chinese ambassador had warned Bloomberg against publishing the report, but Bloomberg had ignored that warning and published the report titled Xi Jinping Millionaire Relations Reveal Fortunes of Elite in June 2012.

After the report was published, Forsythe had received messages through other journalists which he and his wife had considered as death threats. Due to that, Forsythe and his family moved to Hong Kong, believing it to be safer than mainland. Even after that, he and his team continued on working on the next part of the report, focusing on relations between Chinese leaders and China’s richest man Wang Jianlin. They had also started looking into the family of new Chinese President Xi Jinping.

According to NPR, while the senior Bloomberg editors in New York showed excitement over the report earlier, suddenly there was complete radio silence from them. The story was never published by Bloomberg.

In October 2013, Bloomberg’s founding editor-in-chief Matthew Winkler revealed the reason in a private conference call with senior executives at New York and the investigative team in China, audio of which have been accessed by NPR. “It is for sure going to, you know, invite the Communist Party to, you know, completely shut us down and kick us out of the country,” Winkler had said. “So, I just don’t see that as a story that is justified,” he had informed the team in China.

He had expressed great apprehension about the consequences of publishing the report as it would link the Chinese Community Party leaders with the Country’s wealthiest man.  “The inference is going to be interpreted by the government there as we are judging them. And they will probably kick us out of the country. They’ll probably shut us down, is my guess,” Winkler had said predicting the likely Chinese reaction if the story was published.

The fear of China

The fear of the Bloomberg was real, as after the first story was published in 2012, Chinese authorities had searched Bloomberg’s news bureaus in the country, delayed visas for reporters and ordered state-owned companies not to sign new leases for Bloomberg’s terminals, which is the main product of the company. Terminals are the primary source of revenue for Bloomberg, as subscribers pay more than $20,000 per year for the data service that provides real-time financial data, news0 feeds, messages, besides facilitating the placement of financial transactions.

At that time, Mike Bloomberg was the mayor of New York City, and theoretically was not controlling the company. But in reality, was in frequent contact with the executives and he had shared his aspirations for growth in China. Reacting to an earlier report by New York Times report in 2013 about Bloomberg shelving the report on Chinese leadership, Michael Bloomberg had denied it. He had said that he was not involved with running the publication at that time, and he had been told that the accusations are not correct. But later when he re-joined the company after his term as mayor ended, he had said to his staff, “If a country gives you the license to do something with certain restrictions, you have two choices, you either accept the license and do it that way, or you don’t do business there.”

The journalist’s wife

Later in 2013, Mike Forsythe was suspended by Bloomberg, accusing him of leaking the story about the publication killing the China report, and later fired him. At the time of leaving the company, he had to sign a non-disclosure agreement, which forbids him from speaking publicly about his time at the Bloomberg News. Forsythe joined the New York Times after that. Others in the Chinese team also left Bloomberg gradually, each signing similar agreements. But the lawyers of the company had even pressurised Forsythe’s wife Leta Hong Fincher, who is also a journalist, to sign a nondisclosure agreement. They also threatened that Forsythe and Fincher will have to pay back the tens of thousands of dollars which was spent on moving the family to Hong Kong following the death threats.

Fincher told NPR that she had no reason to sign the NDA, as she didn’t have damaging material about the company. Even after she said that she does not have any material, the company’s lawyer had questioned about “all the evidence that’s in her head?” The agreement that the company was trying to persuade her to sign included a promise to never criticise the company or its officials. After Fincher had hired a pair of elite lawyers in Hong Kong, the company relented and stopped asking for her to sign the agreement.

The non-disclosure agreements that many women were made to sign at Bloomberg had come to forefront during the Democratic primaries, when Mike Bloomberg’s rival Elizabeth Warren had raised the issue during debates. Soon after that, Mike dropped out of the Democratic primaries.

It may be noted Bloomberg has a partnership with Raghav Bal’s Quintillion Media, who run the Quint.

Ahmedabad: After Gujarat Congress MLA Imran Khedawala, Congress corporator Badruddin Sheikh tests positive for Coronavirus

OpIndia Staff
-
0
Ahmedabad: After Gujarat Congress MLA Imran Khedawala, Congress corporator Badruddin Sheikh tests positive for Coronavirus

A day after Gujarat Congress MLA Imran Khedawala tested positive for coronavirus, Ahmedabad corporator and Congress leader Badruddin Sheikh too tested positive. He is senior Congress councillor in Amdavad Municipal Corporation and has also been the spokesperson of Gujarat Congress.

Amdavad Municipal Commissioner Vijay Nehra in a press briefing informed that Badruddin Sheikh was home quarantined two days before and is now being hospitalized after found infected by the novel coronavirus.

Imran Khedawala

As per reports, Congress MLA representing Jamalpur-Khadia constituency Imran Khedawala tested positive yesterday and is now hospitalized at SVP Hospital of AMC and is undergoing treatment. Two other leaders of Congress Gyasuddin Sheikh and Shailesh Parmar who visited Gandhinagar with Khedawala yesterday have been sent under home quarantine and their reports are awaited. Contact tracing of Khedawala is currently underway.

The trio had gone to Gandhinagar to attend a meeting called upon by Chief Minister Vijay Rupani. Rupani has not shown symptoms of coronavirus and has currently tested negative. However, as a precautionary measure he will self-quarantine.


MHA issues consolidated guidelines for lockdown till May 3: Agricultural activities allowed, sports arenas and religious places to remain shut

OpIndia Staff
-
0
MHA issues consolidated guidelines for lockdown till May 3: Agricultural activities allowed, sports arenas and religious places to remain shut

After PM Modi yesterday announced an extension of the lockdown for an additional 19 days till May 3 to bolster the country’s battle against the Wuhan coronavirus, the Ministry of Home Affairs has today issued detailed guidelines for states, union territories and the general public to follow during this extended lockdown.

In its latest guidelines, the government has eased restrictions for agricultural activities. This move comes at a time when the harvest season of Rabi crop is at its peak. The guidelines that were issued today said that some of the essential sectors such agriculture, manufacturing sectors will be allowed to operate during the lockdown as a measure by the government to “mitigate the hardships” suffered by people.

The guidelines also decreed that all the religious places, educational institutes, schools, cinema halls, malls and sports arena, gyms, swimming pool and other community places will remain closed till May 3.

Guidelines during the lockdown:

1. All the domestic and international air travel will continue to remain suspended till May 3. All passenger railways services will also remain suspended.

2. All educational, training institutions, schools etc to remain shut during the lockdown. Cinema halls, malls, shopping/sports complexes, gyms, swimming pools, theatres, bars etc to remain closed till May 3. Even taxis (including auto and cycle rickshaws) and services of cab aggregators are prohibited from resuming their operations during the lockdown period.

3. A strict ban on the sale of tobacco, gutka and liquor is to be observed during the lockdown. Spitting has been made a punishable offence.

4. District Magistrate will regulate and monitor gatherings of funerals and marriages.

5. Industries functioning in rural areas, outside the municipal limits, are allowed to operate from April 30 but with rigorous social distancing norms.

6. Manufacturing and industrial organisations located in Special Economic Zones (SEZ) and Export Oriented Units (EOU), industrial estates and industrial townships are permitted to resume their operations from April 20. However, these organisations will have to adhere to government-mandated requirements for the stay and transport of its workers.

7. Manufacturing units involved in the production of essential goods such as drugs, medicines etc have been allowed to function.

8. Government has asked Workspaces to conduct screening of all employees and keep a gap of 1 hour in between shifts and stagger lunch breaks etc. The entire list of hospitals and medical facilities treating COVID-19 shall be put up at all workplaces.

9. Outlets of farm machinery, its spare parts, supply chain, repairs, ‘Custom Hiring Centres’ related to machinery are allowed to open from April 20.

10.  In areas which are not affected by the coronavirus outbreak, activities such as agricultural, horticultural, farming, procurement of Agri products, ‘mandis’ will be permitted from April 20.

11. Wearing of mask/face cover is mandated in all public places, workplaces.

12. Self-employed electricians, IT repairs, plumbers, motor mechanics, carpenters can render their services from April 20.

13. Provision stores, fruit, vegetables shops or carts, milk booths, meat, poultry and fish stores to remain open during the lockdown.

14. Government has also given its assent to highway ‘dhabas’, truck repairing shops to operate from April 20.

15. Places of worship, religious places, religious functions, social, political, sports gatherings remain prohibited during the lockdown till May 3.

16. The government has exempted all the agricultural and horticultural activities from the list of activities banned under lockdown. Agricultural and horticultural activities can remain fully functional, such as farming operations by farmers and farmworkers in the field. The work under MNREGA is allowed with caveats such as the strict implementation of social distancing norms and mandatory use of face masks.

17. Banks, ATMs, IT vendors for banking operations, banking correspondents, ATM operation and cash management agencies to carry out functioning business-as-usual.

18. Exemptions given from April 20 will not be applicable in COVID-19 hotspots or containment zones.

As per latest reports, India 11,555 total cases of coronavirus. 1362 persons have recovered wile 396 people have died of the pandemic.

Coronavirus found in two species of Indian bats: ICMR study

OpIndia Staff
-
0
Coronavirus found in two species of Indian bats: ICMR study

A study carried out by Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) and National Institute of Virology (NIV) has detected a different kind of coronavirus in two species of Indian bats named as bat coronavirus(btCoV) in the Kerala, Himachal Pradesh, Puducherry, and Tamil Nadu. As many as 25 bat species were tested of which two speciies, Rousettus and Indian Flying Fox were found positive for BtCoV. The reverse-transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) tests and sequencing were used to confirm the findings.

As part of the study, 508 samples of the Indian Flying Fox and 78 samples of Rousettus were taken of which 21 and 4 samples of each species were found positive. As of now, there is no research that suggests that bat coronavirus can cause disease in humans, said Dr Pragya D Yadav, Scientist at the National Institute of Virology, Pune. She said, “There’s no evidence or research to claim that these can be potential pathogens to humans. These bat coronaviruses don’t have any relation with SARS-CoV2 that is responsible for COVID-19 pandemic.”

Dr. Pragya Yadav also stated that Pteropus bat species were earlier found positive for the Nipah virus in 2018 and 2019 in Kerala.

ICMR and NIV study on coronavirus in Indian bats

The study of ICMR titled ‘Detection of coronaviruses in Pteropus and Rousettus species of bats from different states of India’ stated that bats are considered to be the natural reservoir for many viruses, of which some are potential human pathogens. In India, an association of Pteropus medius bats with the Nipah virus was reported in the past. It is suspected that the recently emerged severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) also has its association with bats. Although CoVs in the subfamily coronavirinae do not usually produce clinical symptoms in their natural hosts (bats), the accidental transmission of these viruses to humans and other animals may result in respiratory, enteric, hepatic or neurologic diseases of variable severity. It is still not understood as to why only certain CoVs can infect people.

Covid-19 coronavirus

The virus which originated in Wuhan district of China has till now infected over 20 million people worldwide and resulted in death of over a lakh people. The coronavirus has been declared a pandemic and the countries world over are struggling to cope with the extent of infection.

Coronavirus in Pakistan: Islamic clerics warn govt against lockdown, declare that they will continue mass-Namaaz in Mosques

OpIndia Staff
-
0
Coronavirus in Pakistan: Islamic clerics warn govt against lockdown, declare that they will continue mass-Namaaz in Mosques

A group of over 50 senior clerics in Pakistan has issued a stern warning to the Imran Khan-led government against the ban on religious congregations during the coronavirus outbreak.

Clerics defy social distancing norms

The Islamic clerics have said the authorities should instead abide by religious norms and allow more worshippers in mosques to seek forgiveness from Allah and to beat the coronavirus, reports Economic Times.

The diktats by the hardliner clerics come after the Pakistan government had decided to ban prayer congregations of more than five people as part of its measures to curb the spread of the deadly coronavirus, which has infected over 5,715 people in Pakistan.

Despite the government’s warning not to assemble, more than 53 senior clerics of Rawalpindi and Islamabad belonging to the Wafaqul Madaris al Arabia on Monday held a meeting in Jamia Darul Uloom Zakria to discuss the ban on prayer congregations. Representatives from the Jamiat-e-ulema Islam, Jamiat-e-ulema Pakistan, Jamaat-i-Islami and Tanzeem-e-Islami nad many other religious parties had also attended.

Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan had announced a 14-day extension of a national lockdown on Tuesday. He, however, had said the government would make selective exemptions for essential industries to curtail rising unemployment.

Warning to Imran Khan government:

The meeting attended by clerics representing various seminaries, banned groups, proscribed persons and political and non-political parties warned the authorities against the ban and said government leaders should abide by religious norms and ‘seek forgiveness’.

The warning came anticipating that the government may come up with a plan to impose much more restrictions during the holy month of Ramazan, which will begin in the last week of April.

Mufti Taqi Usmani, a ‘religious scholar’ and former judge of the Federal Sharia Court in Pakistan stated that the five times daily prayers, and Friday prayers will continue to be held in the Mosques.

Pir Azizur Rehman Hazarvi, president of the Jamia Darul Uloom Zakaria in Islamabad, said, “The closure of mosques, shutting down Friday prayers and Taraweeh is unacceptable to the countrymen.”

The meeting also did not acknowledge the official directives of a maximum of five persons inside mosques for the collective prayers as the clerics said that the testing times demanded more time for prayers and announced that apart from the five times prayers, Friday and Taraweeh congregations will continue.

However, the clerics agreed to follow some guidelines like the use of hand sanitisers, removal of rugs and carpets, washing of floors, cleaning of hands with soaps and obeyed to follow some sort of social distancing.

Hazarvi said that the senior clerics have noted that all efforts will be made to avoid clash and confrontations with the government and the state institutions.

Willful defying of lockdown:

Maulana Abdul Aziz of the Lal Masjid, one of the influential clerics in Pakistan, continued to challenge the authority of Islamabad Capital Territory (ICT) administration by openly flouting the stipulated precautionary measures.

Every week, Aziz reportedly releases footages of huge congregations gathered for Friday prayers, defying the restrictions imposed by the government. As a result, the number of mosques organising large Friday congregations is increasing in Islamabad.

Meanwhile, on Tuesday, 342 new coronavirus cases have been reported in the last 24 hours in Pakistan, taking the total number to 5,716. While 1,378 people have recovered, 96 people have died due to coronavirus in Pakistan.

Mumbai migrant crisis: FIR filed against ABP Majha reporter for running fake news about train services resuming amidst extended lockdown

OpIndia Staff
-
0
Mumbai migrant crisis: FIR filed against ABP Majha reporter for running fake news about train services resuming amidst extended lockdown

An overwhelming number of migrant workers outpoured onto the streets of Bandra and Mumbra in Mumbai on Tuesday demanding to go home amidst the nationwide lockdown imposed in the wake of the Wuhan Coronavirus pandemic. An FIR has been lodged against ABP Majha reporter, Rahul Kulkarni, in this regard for misleading people with his false reportage which said that the government is mulling to operate special trains to transport migrant workers.

The ‘news report’ by ABP Majha

Soon after PM Modi yesterday made an announcement that the lockdown in the country will be extended till May 3, 2020, ABP Majha published a report stating that the government is contemplating on running special trains from select zones in Maharashtra so as to alleviate the concerns of the distraught migrants yearning to go home.

ABP Majha report that said Railways is going to launch a rescue operation for migrants

Police believe that the baseless news ran by ABP Majha may have spurred the migrants staying in Mumbai to defy lockdown and congregate at a mosque outside the Bandra local station. The assertion made by the ABP Majha that the Railways are planning to launch a rescue operation to evacuate the stranded migrants across Maharashtra was based on a letter written by a South Central Railway official on April 13 on a proposal for Jansadharan special trains.

The chaos at Bandra

While Mumbai is witnessing a sharp uptick in the number of coronavirus cases, a multitude of migrant workers flocked outside the Bandra station, jeopardising the city’s battle against COVID-19. Reacting to the quagmire, Home Minister of Maharashtra, Anil Deshmukh had yesterday posted a tweet saying that strict action will be taken against those who may have fuelled the rumours about trains being operated to take migrants home. He also added that an investigation into the matter has been ordered.

Besides, the Mumbai Police have filed two more FIRs in connection with the massive migrant gathering in Bandra. An FIR has been lodged against 800-1000 people who had gathered at the mosque outside the Bandra station and despite police request did not scatter away. Police had to then resort to baton-charge to disperse the crowd.

The instigators

Another FIR was lodged against self-proclaimed labour leader Vinay Dubey who had allegedly stoked migrants to start walking towards their native homes. Dubey had shared video blogs and social media posts to invite migrants in numbers. Dubey was arrested from his Navi Mumbai residence and could be produced in court today.

It is notable here that Maharashtra has been the worst-hit by the coronavirus crisis, topping the list of states with the highest number of COVID-19 cases in the country. The state’s capital, Mumbai, has emerged as a hotbed for the virus, which has registered more than 1500 cases from the state total of 2300. In such a scenario, the gathering of thousands of migrant worker at a mosque outside Bandra local station, in defiance to the lockdown restrictions, could catapult the city into further chaos.

Did the Modi govt not consult experts before extending lockdown? ICMR refutes the falsehood spread by Caravan Magazine

OpIndia Staff
-
0
Did the Modi govt not consult experts before extending lockdown? ICMR refutes the falsehood spread by Caravan Magazine

The ICMR (Indian Council of Medical Research) has refuted the media claims that the Modi government did not consult experts before extending the nationwide lockdown till May 3 to contain the spread of Chinese coronavirus. In its report, Caravan Magazine claimed that the ICMR approved of usage of private labs for testing for coronavirus without consulting with the committee.

In its article titled “Modi administration did not consult ICMR-appointed COVID task force before key decisions”, writer Vidya Krishnan falsely claimed that many members of the COVID-19 Task Force are unaware of the decisions.

The Caravan Magazine article spreading falsehood

Quoting anonymous member of the COVID-19 Task Force, the Caravan Magazine claimed that the committee hadn’t met all of last week ahead of announcement of lockdown extension. Citing another nameless member of the Task Force, Caravan claims that the Task Force was also not kept in the loop of the developments.

However, the ICMR today took to Twitter to refute the falsehood spread in its name on coronavirus by Caravan Magazine.

The ICMR clarified that in last one month, the Task Force met 14 times and that all decisions taken involve the members of the Task Force. Speaking to OpIndia, Vinod Paul, NITI Aayog Member and Chairman of the Task Force, said, “India’s scientific and health experts are playing an important role in the fight against COVID-19. The task force is leveraging the best minds and playing a leading role in decision making. In addition, I’m regularly briefing the PM and getting his inputs. The attempts to invoke sensationalism and create fissures where none exists are unfortunate. Such efforts by a media outlet damage our national endeavour to fight this pandemic.”

Caravan Magazine, the habitual fake news peddler

This is not the first time Caravan Magazine has indulged in spreading falsehood regarding coronavirus which undermine the efforts of the government of India while spreading panic and fear at such testing times. In March, the online magazine tried to defame the government by maliciously claiming that India is trying to conceal the real situation the country while tackling the novel Coronavirus spread.

Even in this article, it was the same writer Vidya Krishnan who had resorted to spreading falsehood. Krishan falsely claimed that “at two separate press briefing held on Friday, both the health ministry and the Indian Council of Medical Research—also a government body—rejected the possibility of local transmission”. But that is a completely false claim, because the Indian Council of Medical Research has already stated that by March 14, 2020, India was already at stage 2 of transmission, which means local transmission.

After being pointed out by social media users, the Caravan Magazine had to update its report and changed the headline from “government maintains denial” to “government downplays it”. In the body also they replaced “rejected” with “downplayed”.

ICMR and Coronavirus

The Indian Council of Medical Research is the apex body in India for the formulation, coordination and promotion of biomedical research and is one of the oldest and largest medical research bodies in the world.

It is unfortunate that at a time when the nation is fighting a pandemic that has infected over 20 million people worldwide, the ‘journalists’ under the garb of ‘speaking truth to the power’ are resorting to blatant falsehoods to create mass anxiety.

Global cases of Novel Coronavirus infection cross 2 million, USA accounts for 30% of the cases

OpIndia Staff
-
0
Global cases of Novel Coronavirus infection cross 2 million, USA accounts for 30% of the cases

The Chinese pandemic coronavirus cases around the world have crossed two million on Wednesday even as the countries across the globe are fighting to contain the spread of the Wuhan virus.

According to Worldmeters.info, the coronavirus has infected more than 2,000,243 people around the world killing at least 126,758 people across the world. Nearly 484,747 positive patients have recovered from Wuhan Coronavirus pandemic.

Meanwhile, with 614,246 confirmed cases, infections in the U.S. now account for more than 30% of infections globally. More than 26,000 have lost their lives in the United States due to the Chinese epidemic COVID-19. The virus has infected more than 195,749 people in New York state alone.

Spain, one of the epicentres in Europe has also seen 174,060 cases with 18,255 deaths. Italy has recorded 162,488 cases and has seen more number of deaths in entire Europe with more than 21,000 deaths.

List of top 10 countries in the world affected by the Chinese pandemic coroanvirus.

Coronavirus in India

Meanwhile in India, the total number of coronavirus cases has risen to 11439 positive cases after 1076 fresh cases being reported in the past 24 hours, according to the latest data from the Health Ministry. Fatalities from coronavirus in India has gone up to 377, with Maharashtra topping the tally with 178 deaths, followed by Madhya Pradesh.

On the other hand, 1,305 patients have been cured of the virus or discharged. In terms of total number of cases, Maharashtra is the worst affected state with 2,687 coronavirus cases. Tamil Nadu (1,204), Telangana (624), Rajasthan (969), Madhya Pradesh (730) and Gujarat (650) are among the other worst-affected states. After Meghalaya and Nagaland joined the list this week, Sikkim remains the only state without any positive cases for Coronavirus.

Delayed response, mismanagement: Health experts slam Mamata Banerjee govt over downplaying coronavirus crisis

OpIndia Staff
-
0
Delayed response, mismanagement: Health experts slam Mamata Banerjee govt over downplaying coronavirus crisis

The Mamata Banerjee-led West Bengal government has been receiving massive criticism for her response to coronavirus crisis, reports Hindustan Times.

A lot of criticism against the West Bengal government is coming from health professionals, who have accused her of not only fudging data but also for testing “abysmally low” numbers of swab samples. The health experts have also cautioned Mamata Banerjee for playing down the extent of the spread of the disease in the state.

Bengal government’s delay to contain the spread:

Reportedly, West Bengal reported its first coronavirus case on March 17. However, the administration started to act only last week when they sealed some localities after identifying them as ‘high-risk spots’.

The experts allege that West Bengal may have woken up late. According to senior cardiologist Kunal Sarkar, identification of such ‘micro-spots’ would be of no use, if the frequency of testing does not increase.

“Sample testing in India is quite low. And in West Bengal, it is exceptionally low. We need to understand that it is not a competition of low numbers. If we suppress numbers in a state, then our hot spots would amount to nothing but fallacies,” said Sarkar.

Extremely low testing:

Over the past week, the state has been testing about 200 samples per day on an average. Earlier this week, Dr Shanta Dutta the Director of the National Institute of Cholera and Enteric Diseases (NICED) – ICMR, has said that there has been a sharp reduction in the number of coronavirus samples being sent for testing by the Mamata Banerjee-led-West Bengal government.

Shanta Dutta had said that the state government was not sending enough samples for testing. NICED – ICMR, Kolkata, is a laboratory under the Virus Research Diagnostic Laboratory network of the Union health ministry.

Reportedly, only 2,523 tests have been conducted to date in the highly populated State of West Bengal. Dr Shanta Dutta emphasised on the need for more tests to be conducted in accordance with the ICMR’s recommendations.

“Earlier we used to get enough samples, around 80 – 90 samples every day, but over the last few days, we have been receiving 10–30 samples. We have around 27,500 testing kits…,” Dutta said, adding that there is no shortage of testing kits.

A senior health official of the state government who requested to remain anonymous, however, refuted allegation, “NICED is not the only testing lab in West Bengal…we have six other laboratories. Samples are also being sent there.”

Is the Mamata Banerjee government under-reporting Coronavirus cases?

For some time, it has been suspected that the Mamata Banerjee-led West Bengal government was fudging its data on the Wuhan Coronavirus pandemic.

We had reported on the 6th of April that at least eleven people who had tested positive for the virus had died in the state and yet, the official records of the state claimed that the figure was only three. A report on The Statesmen had also claimed that the Kolkata Municipal Corporation recorded ten deaths due to the virus while the West Bengal Health Ministry led by Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee continued to claim that only five people had succumbed to the disease.

Lack of Testing Kits:

On March 23, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee had complained about an acute shortage of testing kits in the State. “We have just 40 testing kits in the State. I have asked for more. The Centre is yet to accede to my request”, she alleged during the all-party meeting.

Refuting claims made by the Trinamool Congress (TMC) Supremo, Dr Shanta Dutta informed that around 42,5000 kits were sent by the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) in 3 consignments and more than 27,000 such kits were still in stock. About 7,500 such testing kits have been handed out to the West Bengal government. The NICED Director added, “There is no shortage. We are the depot or warehouse for the kits in eastern India.”

Mamata Banerjee had also stoked a new controversy by politicizing the issue of yellow PPE (Personal Protection Equipment) kits given by the Centre to the state government and had hinted that West Bengal might not use it.

Meanwhile, West Bengal has reported 10 positive cases on Tuesday taking the total tally of positive cases to 120. At least seven people have succumbed to the Chinese pandemic coronavirus in the state of West Bengal.

1...5,4675,4685,469...7,615Page 5,468 of 7,615