A 16-year-old student has been identified as the first imported case of COVID-19 in the Wuhan city of China. According to reports, the student named Zhou had no symptoms of the disease but was tested positive on his arrival in Beijing and was later transported to Wuhan.
This came just after a week when the Wuhan city declared that it had successfully curbed the coronavirus outbreak, with only 1 new case reported in last one week.
As per reports, Zhou had travelled from Wuhan to Newscastle in the UK via Beijing and Dubai. The Wuhan Health Commission informed that Zhou lives in the City’s Canadian district and studies in the UK. He flew from Newscastle International Airport on March 21 and reached the Beijing Capital International Airport the next day via Dubai.
After the initial screening at the airport, he was taken for further medical observation and later sent to his hometown in Wuhan via high-speed train and quarantined.
Meanwhile, China has reported 841 imported cases of COVID-19 while no new case of local transmission has been reported so far in the Hubei province.
As per reports, 35 imported cases on the same day were identified taking the total number of cases to 841. Six casualties have been reported recently in the Hubei province that brought the death toll to 3,318. Hubei has so far reported 67,802 confirmed coronavirus cases in total, including 50,007 alone in Wuhan city. 1,132 are still being treated in various hospitals of which 280 are still in severe condition and 120 others in critical condition due to novel deadly viral disease.
A total of 81,589 confirmed cases of the virus have been reported on the Chinese mainland, and 3,318 people had died of the disease
Dharavi, the densely populated slum in Mumbai, has recorded its first death due to the Wuhan Coronavirus. The deceased is reported to be a 56-year old male. Now, Times Now has reported that the man visited the Nizamuddin Markaz of the Tablighi Jamaat.
Dharavi victim was at the Markaz of Tablighi Jamaat. 25% of positive Corona cases have been traced to Tabligh. But they now ‘refuse’ to even test for the virus.
The Coronavirus case in Dharavi is a matter of grave concern as over a million people live in the five square kilometer area in cramped spaces next to open sewers. Social Distancing is practically impossible at Dharavi. The victim is reportedly a resident of Dr Baliga Nagar SRA society that has around 300 flats. All the flats and 90 shops nearby have been sealed. All those who came in contact with him have been stamped and quarantined. The test results of the family of the deceased are awaited and all senior citizens and patients of respiratory illnesses are being monitored.
“As per protocol, contact tracing has been initiated. As per information provided by the state government, around 4,000 healthcare workers are currently involved in the works related to tracing and testing,” Lav Agarwal, joint secretary in the Ministry of Health, had stated earlier. The man died in the nearby government-run Sion Hospital. Now, a second Coronavirus case has been reported from Dharavi. “A second confirmed case of covid-19 infection has come from Dharavi. The patient has no travel history. More details will be given shortly,” said Vijay Khabale-Patil, public relations officer at Municipal Corporation of Greater Mumbai (MCGM).
India has witnessed a huge upsurge in cases after the role of Tablighi Jamaat in spreading the virus across the lengths and breadths of the country surfaced. Hundreds of people who visited the Markaz Nizamuddin have tested for the Wuhan Coronavirus and some of them have already died of the disease. Now, the role of Tablighi Jamaat in spreading the virus to Dharavi could result in a huge catastrophe.
The Nasik rural police have taken to Twitter to inform that a Muslim man, whose video of licking and wiping nose with a bunch of currency notes and calling Coronavirus a punishment by Allah was doing rounds on social media, has now been identified and is in police custody.
— NASHIK RURAL POLICE (@SPNashikRural) April 2, 2020
The video showed a Muslim man taking a bunch of currency notes and licking them with his tongue and wiping his nose with them. He says that the coronavirus has no treatment because it is sent by ‘Allah’, implying that he is going to pass those currency notes around, to spread the disease.
The Muslim man in the video uses few 500 denomination notes to wipe his nose and mouth as he looks into the camera and says: “There is no cure for a disease like corona because it is the punishment of Allah, for you people.”
Earlier in the day, it was seen that Islamists on TikTok had ‘welcomed’ the Chinese coronavirus to India. In videos posted by Islamists on the page, one can see them saying, “Welcome to India, coronavirus. To the ones who were asking for our NRC, my God (Allah)’s NRC is now being implemented. Now only He will decide who will stay and who will go.”
Many even took to the Chinese video-sharing app to extend their support to Maulana Saad of Tablighi Jamaat.
Lies are also spread about Tablighi Jamaat. Some videos are going viral which claim that none of the Jamaati at Markaz in Nizamuddin were tested positive for coronavirus.
Some Islamists on TikTok even promised to continue their support for Nizamuddin Markaz, which has emerged as Coronavirus hotspot, till the end of life.
Tablighi Jamaat in Nizamuddin’s Markaz has emerged as the latest hot spot for coronavirus spread in India. As many as 1/3rd of total positive cases could be traced to the Markaz. The Jamaat chief Maulana Saad had mocked government orders of avoiding huge gatherings and insisted that people visit the mosques. He has been absconding since March 28. Over 2100 attendees including foreign Islamic preachers were found in the Markaz while hundreds of others had already reached other parts of the country. Many of these have tested positive.
Real Report, a ‘news platform’ linked closely to the Congress party, posted a tweet on Thursday claiming that ‘thousands’ of devotees had gathered across temples in West Bengal on the occasion of Ram Navami. However, suspiciously enough, it deleted the tweet from its handle and re-posted the same claim made in the first tweet with a vastly different choice of words.
In the now-deleted tweet, Real Report had claimed, “Thousands of devotees have gathered in temples in various parts of West Bengal on occasion of #RamNavami defying lockdown imposed across country due to #coronavirusoutbreak.” “Police has asked them to return home immediately,” the tweet said.
Source: Twitter
Real Report appeared to repeat the claims made by PTI in an earlier tweet. Conspicuously, that tweet too has been deleted. The tweet by Real Report was basically a word-to-word copy of the tweet by PTI with slight changes in punctuation and presentation. No explanation has been provided by PTI for the deletion of its tweet.
Source: Twitter
Real Report is closely linked to the Congress party. Times Now in a report dated January 28, 2019 had stated that the description of the Real Report’s Twitter account earlier mentioned ‘a news platform by INC Congress’ with Congress’ official Twitter handle tagged in it, however, later it was changed to ‘a platform for unbiased news coverage’. It isn’t known now who exactly operates the account but Times Now mentioned in the said report that the content of the said report leaned heavily towards the Congress party.
Source: Times Now
Curiously, Real Report has again posted a tweet making a similar claim. However, instead of ‘thousands of devotees’, the tweet now only says ‘devotees’. The image used in the tweet is also different from the one used in the earlier tweet. The wording, otherwise, has remained the same.
Source: Twitter
As it turns out, the image used by Real Report in its first tweet which has now been deleted was from 2017 and not 2020 as the impression it gave. People pointed out on social media that Real Report was using an old image in order to make spurious claims. Furthermore, the picture used by Real Report in its new tweet showed only a handful of people and not ‘thousands’ as initially alleged.
Conspicuously, the same image has been used in a PTI report reproduced by The Hindu. The title of the report reads, “Defying lockdown, devotees in Bengal assemble at temples on Ram Navami”. The report states, “Amid chants of ‘Jai Sri Ram’, hundreds of devotees assembled in temples in various parts of West Bengal on the occasion of Ram Navami on Thursday, giving a thumbs down to social distancing norms prescribed by the government during the ongoing nationwide lockdown period.”
Source: The Hindu
If there were indeed ‘hundreds’ or ‘thousands’ of devotees, they are certainly not visible in the pictures provided as evidence for the claims. Furthermore, it also does not explain why PTI took down its tweet making the claim. Also, PTI’s tweet claimed ‘thousands of devotees’ had gathered while its report says it was ‘hundreds of devotees’. From ‘thousands’ to ‘hundreds’ is indeed a significant climbdown. Before long, the said number might even drop to a ‘handful’ in its report. It is important to note that the claims made by the PTI might indeed be correct but no evidence has been provided for the same and the conduct of the mainstream media hasn’t been appropriate enough for anyone to take their word for it.
Most importantly, the image posted by both shows a banner hanging in front of the temple which says that as per directions of the Indian government to combat coronavirus, devotees are completely prohibited from visiting the temple. It also says that although the rituals of Ram Navami will be carried out in the temple, visitors will not be allowed to take part in that. The image also shows that the gates of the temple are locked. This shows that the temple has completely banned presence of people in its premises, and only a few people, maybe neighbours, came to the temple on the occasion of Ram Navami and offered prayers in front of locked gates.
Furthermore, an entire section of the website of Real report dedicates itself to a eulogy of the Congress party. At the end of it, the eulogy says, “Disclaimer: Arnob Gauswamy people are not Fools. Everytime BJP blunders you cant fool people by digging into the past Files of Congress and allegedly attempting to protect BJP through your allegedly sinister designs of Defaming Congress. We have had enough of your Dirty Games that even we, the common citizens, have begun to see through it”.
Source: Real Report’s website
It is important to note that the news of devotees defying lockdown on Ram Navami comes at a time when Islamic missionary organization Tablighi Jamaat has landed itself in trouble after defying lockdown orders issued by the government in order to curb the spread of the Wuhan Coronavirus. Hundreds of its members have tested for the virus after attending an Islamic event at Markaz Nizamuddin. Under such circumstances, the news of ‘thousands’ of devotees, or ‘hundreds’, may well be an attempt to deflect attention from the Tablighi Jamaat. The fact that the Real Report, a ‘news platform’ linked closely to the Congress party, made the claim of ‘thousands of devotees’ first before backtracking to only ‘devotees’ does raise suspicions about the entire series of events.
There is no end to anti-social behaviour of attendees of Tablighi Jamaat in Delhi who had now spread the deadly Coronavirus in the entire country. After attacking medical teams who were searching for Tablighi members for who had attended the religious congregation to check them for possible infection, and spiting on doctors at an Isolation centre, now some members of the Jamaat has been found roaming naked in their ward and making lewd gestures for female staff at a Ghaziabad Hospital.
The Chief Medical Officer of the District MMG Hospital in Ghaziabad has written a letter to the Ghaziabad police informing about criminal behaviour of the Jamaatis. The CMO writes that the members of the Tablighi Jamaat who as kept at the isolation ward of the hospital have been roaming in their wards naked with their pants. The letter states that obscene comments and songs are being heard from the ward, and inmates are asking for beedi-cigarette from the staff of the hospital. The CMO also writes that those people are also making lewd gestures towards female employees of the hospital.
The letter by CMO states that the staff nurses of the hospital had already written a letter to the police regarding the matter, and requested the police to take necessary action so that the Jamaatis kept their can be disciplined.
Yesterday, Tablighi Jamaat members kept in a quarantine facility was found misbehaving with the staff and making unreasonable demands for food etc. The occupants of the centre had attempted to spread the potential coronavirus to doctors and other medical healthcare workers who were attending to them by spitting at them.
Moreover, police personnel were fired upon in Bihar when they went to search for Tablighi Jamaat attendees after Delhi’s Nizamuddin emerged as the new hotspot for the deadly Chinese virus. Similarly, a police team was attacked in Ahmedabad’s Gomtipur area when the police reached to search for Delhi’s Tablighi Jamaatis.
A couple of days ago, the role of Tablighi Jamaat in the spreading of the Wuhan Coronavirus across numerous states of India had come to light. Muslim clerics of Tablighi Jamaat organised a congregation in violation of the government’s lockdown orders, providing a conducive environment for the novel coronavirus to proliferate. As per conservative estimates, the congregation organised by Tablighi Jamaat was attended by more than 2000 people, both from various parts of the country as well as from abroad. Several people who attended the congregation had turned positive for COVID-19, and few of them have died.
The Madhya Pradesh police Wednesday have registered an FIR against a Muslim cleric for urging people to gather to offer Namaz at a Mosque in Ujjain, amidst Coronavirus lockdown. The police pulled out 15/20 Muslims praying together there and sealed the Mosque. This congregation at the Mosque was in violation of the national lockdown announced by Prime Minister Modi to contain the spread of the Wuhan Coronavirus.
In the incident which took place at around 8 pm on April 1 (Wednesday), Muslims had gathered to offer Namaz at the Mohammad Mosque in Gandhinagar on Agar Road, Ujjain, Indore. On getting the information, Mandi police station TI Jitendra Bhaskar along with his team reached the spot and rounded up the cleric- Maulvi Haji Mohammed Yunus Waafati Khan, who was conducting the Namaz. He allegedly started arguing with the police after being confronted.
Similarly, in Uttar Pradesh police had earlier arrested a Muslim cleric in Bhagpat area for urging people to gather to offer Friday Namaz at the mosque amidst Coronavirus lockdown. He allegedly used the microphone to invite all the members of his community to join him for the mass prayer (Namaz) at the Mosque. Following the announcement, few alert locals informed the police who then reached the Mosque and arrested the cleric.
Despite the nationwide lockdown, the Islamic repeat offenders have been regularly violating the orders making it difficult for the central and state governments to contain the spread of the deadly infection in the country. When stopped, these people have reportedly been assaulting, pelting stones and moreover engaging in shameless acts like spitting at police personnel, doctors and medical staffers.
Amongst several others, the recent Tablighi Jamaat event in Delhi’s Nizammudin area has emerged as the biggest violation of the social distancing norm and nationwide lockdown orders which the government has imposed in view of the pandemic.
On March 31 it was reported that 107 people from Madhya Pradesh had reportedly participated in the religious congregation organised earlier in March by Tablighi Jamaat at Banglewali Masjid in Delhi’s Nizamuddin area. According to the MHA, as many as 9000 Tablighi Jamaat workers and their primary contacts have been traced and placed in quarantine across the country in view of the coronavirus infection. Out of these 9000 people, 1306 are foreign nationals and the rest are Indians, confirmed MHA.
While the entire world is busy combatting the rapidly expanding coronavirus pandemic, there are some people who are still not ready to get out of their religious sentiments even during such vulnerable times when the country is in a dire need to be united against the COVID-19. With dozens of videos on TikTok featuring Muslims claiming that Coronavirus can’t do any harm to them as they regularly pray to their God, a video of a Muslim cleric is circulating on social media, in which a Bengali Maulvi is demanding a virus from Allah that kills 50 crore people in India in one go.
In this video, the maulana is saying in Bengali, referring to riots in Delhi- “recently I have got the news that mosques are being set on fire, mosques are being burnt for the last two days. I think something is going to happen within a month. May Allah accept our prayers. May Allah send such a terrible virus to India that ten to twenty to fifty crore people die in India. Am I saying something wrong? It is absolutely blissful.” After that, the crowd present there applauds the Naulvi’s statement.
He also said that he does not mind whether he will die or survive but he will surely take Hindus with him. The cleric has been identified as Abbas Siddiqui, and reportedly the video is from 26th February. Which means he made the comments when the Coronavirus had already hit India and govt had already started taking steps to combat it.
This is the same cleric who had earlier threatened to block Kolkata airport if the Citizenship Amendment Act is not revoked in West Bengal.
The video came at a time when an FIR has been lodged against seven Tablighis including Maulana Saad of Tablighi Jamaat in Nizamuddin in Delhi. Recently, after the Islamic religious event of Tablighi Jamaat Markaz that was held in Delhi’s Nizamuddin area, many Muslims from various parts of the country were involved in the event that created a stir across the country.
Meanwhile, a video of Tablighi Jamaat Chief Mohammad Saad had also come to notice in which he was saying, “The tricks and schemes of those who do not believe in Allah have come to stop Muslims from making excuses to save them from the disease. He has got an idea to stop and disperse the Muslims so that this can sit forever in the mind that do not go near anyone, do not sit with anyone or else they’ll get the sickness. Today, if the illness of Muslims changes due to this disease, then the disease will end but we will lose respect.”
Saad has added further in the video, “The disease will change but the values of your masseur, sitting together, eating in a plate and its effects never add in view of issues. This is a program designed to create suspicion among Muslims and to end their love, a program has been made that this excuse is good from separating Muslims from Muslims.”
The Tablighi Jamaat’s emir Maulana Saad works in about 190 countries around the world. It has thousands of members. The Markaz has caused severe damage to the country during the health crisis in the country due to coronavirus.
In an audio Saad was heard saying, “Where will you run away from death, death is going away with you. Therefore, on this occasion keep your wisdom and understanding. Do not just leave the prayers in the doctor’s wards, leave meetings. Why don’t you believe in 70 thousand angles? When Allah-tallah set the disease, how can I survive with any doctor or medicine? What will I do when 70 thousand angles could not save me?”
Saad was found spreading the rumour among the people of muslim community not to believe that if they meet in the mosque, the disease will spread. He sai that if the muslims will be present in the mosques, Allah tala will present the angles in this time.
Delhi police have registered FIR against 6 other organizers of Markaz including Mohammad Saad. However, Maulana Saad is reported missing since March 28.
While the world is in a dire need of face masks and other medical equipment because of the Wuhan Coronavirus pandemic which is spreading rapidly across the boundaries, China has stockpiled more than 2 billion surgical masks and essential medical equipment that can meet the shortage of worldwide personal protective equipment.
As per reports, two billion masks and 25 million pieces of personal protective equipment (PPE) were imported by China from Australia and other countries between the months of January and March.
A report of Daily Mail Australia suggested that a Chinese government report detailing its foreign trade for the first two months of the year has uncovered that revealed China witnessed a rapid growth in imports of commodities and key consumer goods that consists of 2.46 billion medical supply items. That included masks, gloves, hand sanitizer, hazmat suits, ventilators, and other equipment.
When the Wuhan Coronavirus was at its peak in China, the Chinese government went on a global campaign to recruit the Chinese owned companies in foreign countries to raid stocks of the items.
While Australia’s first COVID-19 patient arrived in Australia from China on January 19, the virus had only just begun to spread globally when the big buy-up began.
As per reports, the national customs in China inspected billions of items between January 24 and February 29. It facilitated the rapid entry of supplies by scrapping custom clearance protocol for “epidemic prevention and control materials”.
This came after news.com.au revealed that a Chinese property company in Australia named Greenland shipped more millions of pieces of masks, gloves and essential supplies. The luxury real estate giant Greenland sent the bulk of medical supplies to China after redeploying it’s Sydney staff from their responsibilities and sent them to a medical shopping spree. China has 20% stakes in the company Greenland. According to the same media house, another company Risland Australia sent 90 tonnes of masks and essential supplies in mid-February.
News.com.au also claimed that Chinese packaging company Crown win is now targeting Australian businesses and offering them hundreds or thousands of masks in bulk sales.
The cases of COVID-19 in India has almost doubled in just four days. A large portion of this sudden spike is attributed to the Nizamuddin Markaz cluster of Tablighi Jamaat in New Delhi, where thousands of people, including foreigners, gathered and stayed this month and fanned out in different parts of the country to carry out Chilla (proselytising) activities. While India is fast emerging as the biggest victim of Tablighi Jamaat’s transgressions, AAP MLA Amanatullah Khan has taken to Twitter to defend the Tablighi Jamaat chief Maulana Saad, who is accused of instigating the Muslims to congregate and stay at Markaz Nizamuddin, trashing all coronavirus-related warnings of social distancing and defying a ban on large gatherings.
Amanatullah Khan has also slammed Union Minister of Minority Affairs, Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi and the Governor of Kerala, Arif Mohammad Khan by calling them ‘Dalal’ (pimps) in his tweet.
Respectfully addressing Maulana Saad as “Saheb”, the AAP leader tweeted in Hindi: “Ab Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi aur Arif Mohammad Khan jaise dalal batayenge ki Nizamuddin Markaz kya hota hain aur Maulana Saad Saheb jaise bujurg kya hain…”, roughly translated as, “now pimps like Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi and Arif Mohammad Khan will now teach us about Maulana Saad Saheb’s greatness… Maulana Saad Saheb spreads love and peace in the entire world”.
It is pertinent to note here, that both Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi and Arif Mohammad Khan had earlier in the day slammed the Tablighi Jamaat for the gross negligence. While Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi said that it committed a “Talibani crime” by allowing gatherings at its Nizammudin centre or Markaz in the capital, the Kerala Governor had hit out at the Muslim body, refusing to acknowledge its members as religious scholars.
Probably irked by this, the AAP MLA through his tweet insinuated that people like Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi and Arif Mohammad Khan have given a communal colour to Coronavirus. “In jaise logo ne Corona ko bhi Muslim bana diye”, (people like them have linked Corona to Muslims).
Snapshot of Amanatulla Khan’s original Tweet which was deleted
The AAP MLA had deleted the above tweet, only to retweet again after a few minutes with some changes in the text. But Khan has no qualms about his impudent remarks as his subsequent tweet was equally tendentious and partial.
Amanatulla Khan’s subsequent Tweet
The AAP leader has many times in the past been in news for his provocative and biased statements. Be it the recent Delhi anti-Hindu riots or the Jamia or Shaheen Bagh protests, Amanatullah Khan has always been in the forefront to consolidate the Muslim votebank for his party.
While more and more coronavirus cases in the country are being traced to the religious gathering in Delhi of the Islamic missionary sect Tablighi Jamaat, a hunt is on for its leader Maulana Saad Kandhalvi, last seen on March 28.
Maulana Saad has been charged by the police over allegations that he encouraged people to congregate and stay at Markaz Nizamuddin, trashing all coronavirus-related warnings of social distancing and defying a ban on large gatherings. He allegedly ignored two police notices to vacate the building.
Nizamuddin Markaz has recently emerged as the Coronavirus hotspot with several of the attendees being tested positive for the Wuhan Coronavirus also known as COVID-19. In what could be termed as a massive effort undertaken by the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) in coordination with states, until now, as many as 9000 Tablighi Jamaat workers and their primary contacts have been traced and placed in quarantine across the country in view of the coronavirus infection. Out of these 9000 people, 1306 are foreign nationals and the rest are Indians.
Punya Salila Srivastava, a joint secretary in the Union Home Ministry, told reporters during a daily briefing that out of about 2000 such Tablighi Jamaat members in Delhi, 1804 have been shifted to quarantine centres while 334 symptomatic persons have been admitted to hospitals.
— PIB India ?? #StayHome #StaySafe (@PIB_India) April 2, 2020
About 400 COVID-19 positive cases found whose epidemiological linkage can be traced to the Tablighi Jamaat cluster.
Meanwhile, the Delhi Police Special Branch has identified and quarantined 275 foreign nationals, who have been holed up in various mosques after attending a Tablighi Jamaat congregation in the Nizamuddin area.
Similarly, the Uttar Pradesh police have, in as less than 48 hours, tracked down 292 foreign nationals, who were allegedly on different Jamaat trips in various cities in Uttar Pradesh. The foreign nationals were reportedly staying in various Mosques in different parts of the state.
According to a report by Times of India, out of these 292, 57 had attended the Tablighi Jammat event at Nizamuddin in Delhi while the rest were preaching at different places in the state.
On Wednesday, UP Police identified 218 foreign nationals, who had come to Uttar Pradesh at different stages on tourist visas but some of these foreigners joined the Tablighi Jamaat at Nizamuddin Markaz.
Police have seized the passports of these foreigners and have got them quarantined. Along with this, they are being investigated. The Police have also filed an FIR against people who provided shelter to foreigners.
They also registered 23 FIRs against over 100 foreigners who had violated visa rules and participated in Tablighi Jamaat activities in the state. They said over 100 foreigners, who are at present under quarantine, have been booked under the Foreigners Act as they were indulging in religious activities.
The cases of COVID-19 in India has almost doubled in just four days. This sudden spike is attributed to the Nizamuddin Markaz cluster of Tablighi Jamaat in New Delhi, where thousands of people, including foreigners, gathered and stayed this month and fanned out in different parts of the country to carry out Chilla (proselytising) activities.
The attendees from the event are spread all over namely – Karnataka: 64 quarantined, Tamil Nadu: 981 of 1500 attendees traced – 45 tested positive, Telangana: 1300 attendees with 6 deaths and 15 positives, Andhra Pradesh: 626 of the 806 attendees traced (8 have tested positive), Andaman: 9 out of 10 positive cases attendees, UP 157 attendees of which 14 quarantined, Jammu & Kashmir has identified 6 attendees. All states are doing contact tracing and quarantining all attendees.
India’s total COVID-19 cases, as on April 2, 18:34 pm, stand at 1965 with 50 deaths.
