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Maharashtra: Mumbai Police resorts to lathi charge as migrant workers gather in large number at mosque in Bandra demanding to go home

OpIndia Staff
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Maharashtra: Mumbai Police resorts to lathi charge as migrant workers gather in large number at mosque in Bandra demanding to go home

Migrant workers have gathered in large number in Bandra, Mumbai, demanding to go back home as the nationwide lockdown got extended till May 3.

The crowd has gathered at Ahle Sunnat Sunni Raza Jama Masjid near Bandra station as can be seen in this video.

The videos show thousands of migrant workers gathered in a bid to go to their respective home states.

Meanwhile, Mumbai Police has resorted to lathicharge to contain the crowd.

The states have sealed their borders in March after PM Modi had announced the 3-week lockdown which concluded today. Those migrant workers who were in other states were to be taken care of by the states where they were in case of emergency.

Maharashtra govt’s mess in coronavirus

Maharashtra has seen the highest number of coronavirus positive cases in the country with as many as 2,337 having reported positive as of 5 PM on April 14. The Maharashtra government, however, despite the PR stunts has not been able to contain the spread of the contagion. Moreover, there is a lot of evidence to suggest that the cases in Maharashtra may be under-reported, especially, due to the sheer incompetence of the Maharashtra government. While there are several things that the Maharashtra government has done right, for example, its outreach program to keep its people calm, there are several issues that have clearly come to the fore as well.

Bihar BJP leader taken into custody for passing objectionable remarks on coronavirus super-spreader Tablighi Jamaat

OpIndia Staff
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Bihar BJP leader taken into custody for passing objectionable remarks on coronavirus super-spreader Tablighi Jamaat

The police officials in Bihar have objected to a social media post uploaded by BJP leader Ajit Singh and arrested him for passing remarks on Tablighi Jamaat, says a report published by ABP.

Arrested in Vaishali, Bihar

Singh, a BJP leader from Bihar and reportedly a Railway Board member, had reportedly uploaded a social media post regarding Tablighi Jamaat’s role in spreading coronavirus. This evidently did not sit well with the Vaishali Police authorities who proceeded to arrest him, serving as a deterrence to others from posting anything controversial about Markaz Nizamuddin.

As many as 4 people have been arrested by the Vaishali police in Bihar in the last 24 hours for making objectionable remarks on social media amidst coronavirus outbreak.

Tablighi Jamaat Congregation

The role of Tablighi Jamaat in spreading the coronavirus in the country came to the fore in the last week of March when around 300 people with Wuhan Coronavirus symptoms were admitted to various hospitals in Delhi from the Markaz Nizamuddin and surrounding places. Subsequently, the area around the Markaz Nizamuddin was cordoned off by the Delhi Police. Soon, cases began to erupt across the country with links to the Tablighi Jamaat and the country stood horrified as the magnitude of the Islamic Missionary organization’s careless conduct became known.

Soon enough, it became known that thousands of people had attended the event and as late as the 22nd of March, 2500 people were present at the premises of the Markaz Nizamuddin and around 1500 of them left the place on the 23rd of March. Even so, it meant that around a thousand people were still stuck at the global headquarters of the Tablighi Jamaat as of the 24th of March. Since then, it has been a continuous series of escalations and atrocious conduct by the members of the Jamaat who have made things difficult for the administration and the healthcare providers at every step along the way.

Many of the Tablighi Jamaat members held in quarantine have displayed perverse and malicious tendencies to infect and spite others. Some of them were caught spitting on nurses, doctors and other healthcare professionals, while others created a ruckus and took a dump in the corridor of the quarantine centre. Some others ran around naked and passed lewd remarks against the nurses tending to them.

Bihar: Spitting of tobacco in public to be penalised, can lead to a fine and 6-months imprisonment

OpIndia Staff
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Bihar: Spitting of tobacco in public to be penalised, can lead to a fine and 6-months imprisonment

In a bid to check the transmission of the Wuhan Coronavirus, the Bihar government on Monday has issued an official order to fine ₹200 or imprison a person for 6 months, if found guilty of spitting tobacco in public spaces.

Government Diktat

The official order stated that spitting tobacco on roads can endanger public health and safety and thus is an offence under the Indian Penal Code (IPC) Sections 268 (Public Nuisance) and 269 (Negligence that can lead to the spread of infection).

The Bihar Government has ordered all SPs and District Magistrates to ensure implementation of the government-sanctioned penalty on public spitting of tobacco. Given that 25.9% of the population consumes tobacco, it will be an uphill task to prohibit people from doing so.

“The ban on Khainee will not only decrease the ill impact on one’s health and society but also bring a welcome change on Bihari culture of spitting anywhere without any remorse”, a senior IAS officer was quted as saying.

Several districts in Bihar such as Vaishali, Samastipur, Champaran and Sitamarhi are the largest producers of tobacco in the State. According to the Ministry of Health, Bihar has reported 65 cases of the Chinese virus infection with 26 recoveries and 1 death.

Andhra Pradesh follows suit

The Andhra Pradesh government has also passed an order prohibiting people from spitting tobacco and pan masala in public spaces. Special Chief Secretary (Health) KS Jawahar Reddy said, “People are refrained from consuming the smokeless tobacco or chewable tobacco/non-tobacco product, sputum, etc and spitting in public places/institutions with immediate effect during the COVID epidemic.”

The order stated that the unhealthy practice was restricted in an attempt to maintain hygeine and cleanliness in both public and personal spheres.

Previously, the UP, and Haryana governments had banned the sale and distribution of Paan Masala and Gutkha too.

Pan-masala Delivery via drones

As restrictions have been imposed over non-essential goods across the country due to the nationwide Coronavirus lockdown, several people are struggling as their lives have come to a standstill. However, addicts across the country are leaving no stone unturned to procure non-essential items like Gutka, tobacco, cigarettes, and alcohol. One of the tools being used for the delivery of such items is the drone, which is one of the latest gadgets that have become popular.

Reportedly, a young man named Hiren Patel managed to fly a drone with packets of tobacco in Morbi near Rajkot during the ongoing lockdown. Patel had shared the video on TikTok. As the video went viral, the Rajkot police detained Patel and his friend Ravi, the owner of the drone. The police have initiated a probe against the two people under the Epidemic Act. Both Hiren and Ravi have been booked under IPC section 188. The drone worth Rs 25,000 has also been seized.

Lessons learned during Coronavirus lockdown: A way forward for environmental issues

Dr. Amit Kumar Mishra
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Lessons learned during Coronavirus lockdown: A way forward for environmental issues

We are witnessing world’s biggest catastrophe in the form of zoonotic contagious virus named novel coronavirus (COVID-19/SARS-CoV-2). More than sixteen lakhs humans have already been infected by this COVID-19 and more than one lakh deaths related to coronavirus have been reported across the world till date. The current statistics of COVID-infections and accounted deaths clearly indicates the severity of situation. The world health organization (WHO) had already announced it as pandemic. Most of the world’s leading countries have announced national emergency and adopted partial or complete lockdown to control the transmission of infection. Indian population is no stranger to this highly contagious virus. Indian government has also taken some stringent and wise decisions to curb down the infection at its early stage. Nationwide lockdown (started since 22 March, 2020) is one of the important decisions taken by the central government to break the transmission chain and provide ample time to different institutions for preparation to face the future situation. Aside from the Coronavirus lockdown arresting the spread of the pandemic, it has also had an impact on the environment and there are certain lessons we must not ignore.

Impact of Coronavirus lockdown on air quality

Nationwide lockdown brings shutdown of all kinds of factories/industries, construction works and major transportation (public and personal vehicles) except necessary sectors across the country. Most of these sectors use fossil fuel based energy sources, which are the major source of anthropogenic pollutants and greenhouse gases, responsible for climate change. The forced restrictions on vehicular and industrial emissions are expected to results in better air quality. Within a week of the lockdown, the social media got flooded with various news/pictures/videos, showing twinkling stars in clear night sky, increased visibility during day and better air quality etc., as a result of lockdown. In fact, my scientific analysis using satellite observations also indicates a significant decrease in atmospheric particulate matter and gaseous pollution over India during lockdown period (see Figure). Satellite retrieved aerosol optical depth (AOD) and nitrogen dioxide (NO2) are used as proxies for air-borne particulate matter and anthropogenic gaseous pollutant, respectively. My study shows a significant decrease (about 20 – 60%) in AOD during lockdown as compared to past four years mean for the same period. As expected, the drop in concentration of particulate matter increases as a function of days in lockdown period. The gaseous pollutant (NO2) also shows a significant drop (about 20 – 40%) during entire month of March and early April, 2020.

Figure: Impact of COVID-lockdown on air pollution over India. Time series of (a) MODIS-derivedaerosol optical depth (AOD, proxy for air-borne particulate matter) for year 2020 (orange) and four years [2016-19] mean (blue), and (b) percentage change in value of AOD (red) and OMI-derived tropospheric NO2 (blue) with respect to four years [2016-19] mean during 01 March – 06 April over India. Respective Broken lines show linear trends. It shows significant decrease in 2020 during lockdown period. The data is averaged over 22 – 290N & 74 – 860E. Data source: https://giovanni.gsfc.nasa.gov.

Impact of Coronavirus lockdown on water quality

Coronavirus induced lockdown is not only benefiting in terms of air quality but also have greater impact on water quality and health of riverine systems. The discharge of chemical pollutants from factories and industries into rivers is completely closed, which accounts for a significant reduction in the pollution load of rivers flowing near urban agglomerates. However, there is no change in organic pollutants discharge through sewage from urban regions. In the absence of significant amount of chemical pollutants, self-cleansing capacities of rivers via dilution by natural runoff and natural degradation by microbial activities, may be able to deal with organic pollutants. Various social media posts and mainstream media articles show significant improvement in visible color and smell of water of Yamuna and Ganges as compared to past. However, scientific analysis results are yet to be seen before endorsing these claims. 

The wild animals

Another important environmental aspect during lockdown period is related with increased frequency of spotting wild animals in residential/urban locations. Several Facebook’s and WhatsApp’s posts are displaying videos of elephant, deer and other animals roaming around in residential localities as per their claims. The marine animals are also frequently seen near coast during this period. Though a number of such claims are found to be false, these kinds of scenarios are natural in lockdown regulated silence zone of urban locations. The wild animals are claiming back their spaces and roaming freely while humans are sheltering in their houses during the lockdown period. 

Coronavirus lockdown, the environment and lessons to be learnt

Better air quality, healthy riverine and flourishing ecosystems during lockdown give me a soothing touch as an environmentalist, but I can’t rejoice it. These environmental benefits are temporary and post-lockdown ‘as usual scenario’ may even pose greater threat to environment. These positive environmental changes are seen as a result of compulsive lockdown under the threat of pandemic outbreak, which have claimed a number of lives. This sudden lockdown has already costed lakhs of jobs, social security and mental peace of fellow citizens. Lakhs of poor and marginalized population are suffering despite the concerted efforts of states and central government’s machineries. Therefore, we can’t celebrate these temporary environmental benefits, but certainly can learn lessons from this lockdown. 

This lockdown provides a natural laboratory condition of environment to gather baseline data for different environmental parameters. The academic/research institutions may use this scenario to build a nationwide baseline data for environment by collecting (with taking all necessary health precautions) measurements of various atmospheric, hydrological and ecosystem parameters. These baseline data can be helpful in determining the shares of different sectors in environmental pollution. Further, it can be used by stakeholders and policy makers to build a sustainable development model for the nation. In my view, this lockdown scenario gives us better understanding to differentiate between our needs and luxuries at individual levels. The goals of sustainable development can’t be achieved without balancing between ‘needs and luxuries’ at various scales such as individual, community, state and global levels. The lessons learned from lockdown can be used as arsenals in our fight for clean air, clean water and a healthy environment. 

Bhima Koregaon Violence Case: Urban Naxal Gautam Navlakha surrenders before the NIA

OpIndia Staff
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Bhima Koregaon Violence Case: Urban Naxal Gautam Navlakha surrenders before the NIA

Urban Naxal Gautam Navlakha finally surrendered before the National Investigation Agency in connection with the Bhika Koregaon Violence case on Tuesday. On the 8th of April, the Supreme Court had given Gautam Navlakha and Anand Teltumbde a week to surrender. He has been charged under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA).

Before his surrender, Gautam Navlakha had penned an open letter where he had expressed his hope for a ‘speedy’ and ‘fair’ trial. “My hope rests on a speedy and fair trial for myself and all my fellow co-accused. This alone will enable me to clear my name, and walk free, having also used the time in jail to rid myself of acquired habits,” he wrote. He further stated, “I can now begin to face the actual legal process, which accompanies cases where provisions of Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act are invoked. Such Acts turn the normal jurisprudence upside down. No longer is it the axiom that ‘a person is innocent unless proven guilty’. In fact, under such Acts, ‘an accused is guilty unless proven innocent’.”

Past Antecedents of Gautam Navlakha

Earlier in February, the Bombay High Court declined to grant anticipatory bails to Bhima Koregaon violence accused Gautam Navlakha and Anand Teltumbde in the Elgar Parishad-alleged Maoist links case. Following the violence in Bhima Koregaon village on January 1, 2018, Gautam Navlakha, Anand Teltumbde along with others were booked by the Pune police for their Maoist links and several other charges.

It has also been reported that Gautam Navlakha was in touch with Hizbul Mujahideen and other Kashmiri separatist leaders. Navlakha had earlier attended events organised by Ghulam Nabi Fai who was sentenced to two years of jail by the US for concealing the fact that Fai’s organization, Kashmiri American Council (KAC), was funded by Pakistani Spy Agency, ISI, to deliberately tilt USA’s policy regarding Kashmir against India.

What is the Bhima Koregaon Violence Case?

The event by the name of “Elgar Parishad” was organised to commemorate the Battle of Bhima Koregaon of 1818, wherein the Peshwas fought against the between East India Company. In the war, an army of Dalit soldiers had fought under the British forces against the Peshwa, the reason for the celebration by Dalits. In 2018, it was the 200 year anniversary of the war and extreme violence erupted over the matter. Soon after, the case was transferred to the NIA. The Pune police had arrested a total of nine supposed “intellectuals” such as Sudha Bharadwaj, Rona Wilson, Surendra Gadling, Mahesh Raut, Shoma Sen, Arun Ferreira, Vernon Gonsalves, and Varavara Rao for inciteful speeches.

Maharashtra cabinet minister Jitendra Awhad had tested positive for coronavirus 3 days ago, claims Thane councillor

OpIndia Staff
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Maharashtra cabinet minister Jitendra Awhad had tested positive for coronavirus 3 days ago, claims Thane councillor

In a shocking revelation, Thane councillor Milind Patil claimed that the controversial firebrand politician, Jitendra Awhad, who went into self-quarantine yesterday after allegedly coming into contact with a COVID-19 police official, had tested positive for coronavirus three days ago. Patil contended that Awhad tested positive for the virus in the first test that was carried out 3 days back.

Patil’s shocking claim

“Three days ago, Jitendra Awhad’s coronavirus test had come positive. But in three days of treatment, his subsequent test for coronavirus has come negative. There will be a third test whose result will determine if Mr Awhad had truly recovered from the contagion or not. Most of the people around him have tested positive. His driver, his wife’s driver, his bodyguards and his 3 personal assistants, all have tested positive for the novel coronavirus. In all, 7 to 8 people working with them have had the infection. Jitendra Awhad is now in quarantine,” Patil said.

Patil further added that with the help of cabinet minister Jitendra Awhad, he and his colleagues were helping feed thousands of people daily in the Thane suburb of Kalwa which will now have to be stopped abruptly as Awhad had gone into quarantine. The Thane councillor said that since he was in touch with the NCP leader to carry out the relief work during the 21-day lockdown for those stranded in the financial capital along with those quarantined in the hospitals, he is himself going to undergo tests for coronavirus after many members of Awhad’s retinue tested positive for the virus.

16 persons associated with Awhad have already been tested positive

Patil’s revelations about Maharashtra Housing Minister and Nationalist Congress Party leader Jitendra Awhad testing positive in his first test for the Wuhan Coronavirus comes a day after the cabinet minister Awhad voluntarily took the decision to self-quarantine as a precautionary measure even though he has reportedly not tested positive.

On Monday, Maharashtra Housing Minister and Nationalist Congress Party leader Jitendra Awhad reportedly tested negative for the Wuhan Coronavirus while 16 of his contacts were diagnosed with the deadly infection. The family members of the politician, including his wife and children, had also tested negative.

Source of infection

The source of infection is traced back to a senior police inspector who nabbed 21 foreign nationals belonging to the Tablighi Jamaat and who had tested positive for the Chinese Virus. When he began exhibiting symptoms of the Coronavirus pandemic, he was tested and admitted to the Apollo Hospital in Nashik in Maharashtra. The infected cop is believed to be the source of transmission of the deadly disease to the 16 contacts of NCP politician.

Did you know that the concept of ‘quarantine’ emerged from Italy? Here is what it means

OpIndia Staff
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Did you know that the concept of ‘quarantine’ emerged from Italy? Here is what it means

With the Novel coronavirus pandemic wreaking havoc across the globe, phrases like quarantine, self-isolation and social distancing are being used widely. Even the government has been time and again stressing on implementation of such means to contain the spread of the deadly virus. In fact, today, Prime Minister Narendra Modi in his address to the nation announced that the nationwide lockdown will be extended till May 3, culminating in a 40-day containment period.

Incidentally, this 40-day containment period recommended by PM Modi, is exactly what ‘quarantine’, which is one of the key methods being adopted by the government to contain the spread, stands for.

Quarantine meaning

According to dictionary.com, ‘Quarantine’ essentially means a period, originally 40 days, of detention or isolation imposed upon ships, persons, animals, or plants on arrival at a port or place, when suspected of carrying some infectious or contagious disease. It is basically, a strict isolation, imposed to prevent the spread of disease.

Etymologically the word ‘quarantine’ means a period of 40 days, it originates from Latin word Quadraginta and the Italian word Quaranta both meaning ’40’, but to find the origin of the term, we would have to look back to mid-14th century Europe.

Quarantine meaning

In the mid-14th century, the bubonic plague, infamously known as the Black Death, was ripping through the continent. Starting in 1343, the disease wiped out an estimated one-third of Europe’s population during a particularly nasty period of three years between 1347-50. This sweep of the plague resulted in one of the biggest die-offs in human history becoming an impetus to take action.

Officials in the Venetian-controlled port city of Ragusa (now Dubrovnik, Croatia) then passed a law establishing ‘trentino’, or a 30-day period of isolation for ships arriving from plague-affected areas. No one from Ragusa was allowed to visit those ships under trentino, and if someone broke the law, they too would be isolated for the mandatory 30 days. The law caught on. Over the next 80 years, Marseilles, Pisa, and various other cities adopted similar measures to control any kind of epidemic.

Within a century, cities extended the isolation period from 30 to 40 days, and the term changed from ‘trentino’ to ‘quarantino’—the root of the English word ‘quarantine’ that we use today.

Quarantine history

In 1793, when yellow fever hit Philadelphia, sailors were quarantined in a hospital outside the city. When typhus landed in New York City in 1892, at least 70 people were quarantined on a nearby island. Similarly, when an outbreak of SARS (severe acute respiratory syndrome) moved through Canada in 2003, about 30,000 people in Toronto were quarantined.

During the 2014 Ebola outbreak in West Africa, health workers returning to the United States from affected areas were quarantined.

Forty days quarantine is still used as the most effective measure against an epidemic’s spread, and this is probably why the government of India has proposed an extension of nationwide lockdown until May 3.

Tablighi Jamaat members paid money to the Nizamuddin Markaz organisers, claims Delhi Police

OpIndia Staff
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Tablighi Jamaat members paid money to the Nizamuddin Markaz organisers, claims Delhi Police

Several members of the Tablighi Jamaat who had attended the religious congregation organised at the Nizamuddin Markaz between March 13 and March 15 have reportedly informed the Delhi police that they had paid for food and shelter, prior to the commencement of the event.

As per a Times of India report, the cops are now investigating whether it was the ‘money angle’ that encouraged the organisers to flout government orders and prevent the Jamaatis from leaving the premises of the Markaz. The Delhi Police is now scrutinising the account books to ascertain the amount received by them from the attendees.

Over 9000 Tablighi Jamaatis were said to have attended the event in Delhi’s Banglewali Masjid by Nizamuddin Markaz. Adding the Jamaatis who have been coming to the Markaz and their contacts, over 25,000 people linked to the religious group have already been quarantined by the government.

Foreign Tablighi Jamaat members Jailed

17 foreign nationals associated with the Tablighi Jamaat have been sent to jail in Bahraich, Uttar Pradesh on Saturday. The Jamaatis are from Indonesia and Thailand. The foreign nationals were part of the 21 Jamaatis who were apprehended from the Taj and Quraish Masjid in the city.

They were kept under quarantine although they had tested negative for the Wuhan Coronavirus. The Jamaatis were later produced in front of the Magistrate after the mandated period of quarantine had ended. They have been sent to jail for violating visa and passport norms.

The foreign Tablighi Jamaat members were charged under sections 269, 270, 271, 188, section 03 of the Epidemic Diseases Act (1897), section 12(3) of the Passport Act (1967), sections 14(b) and 14(c) of the Foreigners Act (1946) and section 56 of the Disaster Management Act (2005).

It is notable here that thousands of Jamaatis had attended the event at Delhi’s Banglewali Masjid, organised by the Nizamuddin Markaz, flouting rules against gatherings. Over the last few weeks, Jamaatis travelling all over India has been found to be the worst spreader of the coronavirus pandemic. From Kashmir to Andaman Nicobar Islands and the North East, Jamaatis from Delhi make the most number of coronavirus infected patients.

Hunt for Maulana Saad underway

According to media reports, the Delhi Police’s team of crime branch officials is all set to nab controversial Muslim cleric Maulana Muhammad Saad – the mastermind of the Tablighi Jamaat coronavirus incident, to question the Tablighi leader and other people named in the FIR in next two days.

The sources in the Delhi police told India TV that they also suspect that Maulana Saad might make excuses to avoid questioning claiming that he has just come back from home quarantine, therefore, he will not be able to support the inquiry immediately. He might also say that since he was in quarantine from the last 14 days, therefore, he is not aware of the current situation of the Jamaat headquarters and he needs time to talk to his colleagues, the sources said to IANS.

Mumbai’s civic-run Kasturba Hospital takes action against medical staff for exposing lack of PPEs

OpIndia Staff
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Mumbai’s civic-run Kasturba Hospital takes action against medical staff for exposing lack of PPEs

Amidst the rising concerns of Mumbai emerging as a Coronavirus hotspot, a shocking case has now come to the fore. Mumbai’s civic-run Kasturba Hospital has initiated action against its staff for highlighting the issue of alleged lack of PPEs for medical staff.

According to a Times Now report, these individuals were making videos highlighting the laxities in the hospital. The hospital administration has now punished these employees for bringing the hospital’s plight to the forefront.

What were the allegations against Kasturba Hospital by medical staff amidst Coronavirus crisis

The Municipal workers union’s general secretary Pradeep Narkar, highlighting the hospital administration’s callousness towards its doctors, nurses and especially the class IV staff, had earlier said that “Corona infection poses a risk of reaching homes because the administration is neglecting the security of the employees. There is a feeling that the administration is not concerned about the lives of these employees, regardless of the risks they are being exposed to. The municipality should provide ‘security kits’ to the employees on an urgent basis, otherwise, the staff will stop serving the coronavirus ward and instead shift to other wards in the hospital.

A shortage of personal protection equipment kits is Maharashtra has emerged as a continuous threat to the lives of the medical staffers. BMC officials had earlier confirmed that 93 staffers at the hospital, including doctors, nurses and technicians, have been tested for likely exposure to coronavirus. Amidst the growing threat, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has appealed to corporates and individuals to donate personal protective equipment (PPE) to meet the needs of its hospitals.

BMC raises alarm about Community transmission

On April 8, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation had raised alarms about the likelihood of the contagion entering community transmission stage in Mumbai.

The Municipal corporation has said that the emergence of new cases of coronavirus with neither any travel history nor any known contact with patients hints that the spread might have entered the community transmission stage. 

As per the BMC report, a large chunk of Wuhan Coronavirus positive case in India’s financial hub has been reported from the city’s densest areas and slum pockets. The corporation has received 78 cases from the G/Southward, the highest number of cases in the city, where the patients mainly comprise from the fishermen colony of Worli, Prabhadevi and Lower Parel. The second-highest number of cases are reported from D ward, which includes Byculla, a South Mumbai neighbourhood. In addition, localities such as Dharavi, Kurla, Nehru Nagar, Bandra and Andheri too have registered a considerable number of positive coronavirus cases.

The total number of coronavirus cases registered in the country stands at 10,363 with 339 fatalities. Maharashtra leads the country with the highest number of coronavirus at 2,334. Mumbai alone is believed to have contributed to more than 50 per cent of the state tally.

Despite the Wuhan coronavirus outbreak in Maharashtra continues to exacerbate, and the number of positive coronavirus cases rising precipitously, threatening to overwhelm the public health system, the Uddhav Thackeray-led Maha Vikas Aghadi government in the state has refused the central government’s move to deploy the Armed Forces and stem the inexorable spread of the virus in the country’s financial capital.

‘Journalist’ Vinod Kapri gets called out by Agra District Magistrate for his brazen lies on the unavailability of protective gears for doctors

OpIndia Staff
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‘Journalist’ Vinod Kapri gets called out by Agra District Magistrate for his brazen lies on the unavailability of protective gears for doctors

A message in media and social media has gone viral that doctors treating coronavirus patients in Agra are forced to wear polythene bags to cover their faces in isolation wards. Taking cognisance of a report published in Dainik Jagran, the District Magistrate of Agra took to Twitter to expose the lies peddled by ‘journalist’ Vinod Kapri about the scarcity of protective gears and masks for doctors treating the coronavirus patients in the district hospital in Agra.

The article shared by ‘journalist’ Vinod Kapri read that there is astonishing unavailability of safety equipment such as protective masks in Agra district hospital that doctors have to wear polythene bags on their faces in order to safeguard themselves from contracting the contagion while treating the positive coronavirus patients. A photo accompanied Kapri’s report in which a doctor can be seen wearing a polythene bag after wearing a mask on his face.

However, the official Twitter account of Agra District Magistrate rubbished the claims stating that doctors and healthcare workers working in the district hospital in Agra have been provided with N95 grade masks and gloves as per the Indian Council of Medical Research(ICMR) mandate and are not wearing polythene bags.

Debunking the lies purveyed by Kapri, the Agra DM says that the concerned doctor whose picture is published in the article is a Pediatric doctor who is not authorised to oversee the Isolation Ward for coronavirus patients. In addition, Agra DM further said that the doctor in the picture can be seen wearing both the polythene bag as well as the N-95 grade mask, adding that in the times of such a grave medical crisis, everyone seeks to protect himself/herself according to his/her understanding and through all the means available at their disposal.

Vinod Kapri, serial offender

However, this is not the first time that Vinod Kapri is accused of milking a tragedy to peddle his petty propaganda. Last year, a journalist named Abhishek Upadhyay claimed that controversial journalist Vinod Kapri used the misfortune of a newborn to promote himself and his movie ‘Pihu’. In a series of tweets, Upadhyay claimed that Kapri had planted stories in Indian as well as international media houses that he had already adopted the newborn child.

The incident occurred when a group of villagers from Barnel village rescued a newborn baby from a garbage dump and admitted the newborn child to the nearest hospital at Nagaur, Rajasthan. However, contrary to this some media houses claimed that journalist himself had rescued the baby. According to the journalist, Vinod Kapri himself planted stories in newspapers claiming that he had himself rescued the baby and shared those news reports on his timeline despite the fact that he did not rescue the baby in the first place. As per Dainik Bhaskar reports, it was a group of villagers who had rescued the girl-child.

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