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Even as China blows its trumpet, Wuhan residents say actual number of Coronavirus deaths far more than official numbers: Details of growing anger

OpIndia Staff
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Even as China blows its trumpet, Wuhan residents say actual number of Coronavirus deaths far more than official numbers: Details of growing anger

While the Chinese Communist regime is busy projecting that the spread of the Wuhan coronavirus in the country is gradually on the wane, the residents of Wuhan, the epicentre of the deadly contagion that has ravaged hundreds of countries across the world and afflicted more than 2.1 million people globally with a staggering death count of 146,000+, believe that the number of deaths reported by China in its official count belies the havoc wreaked by the pandemic.

Angry with the communist party and Xi Jinping’s lackadaisical initial response in acknowledging and detecting the problem, those who witnessed the tragedy unravelling firsthand claim that the number of coronavirus victims is far greater than what the state has been quoting.

Fatalities count higher than the official tally: Wuhan residents say

Stephen Cheng, a 30-year-old Wuhan resident whose pregnant wife and father contracted the coronavirus, asserted that if the decision-makers had visited or consulted the frontline doctors about the extent of the spread, they would have known the actual count of the patients and realised the urgency of nipping the virus in its bud.

Cheng’s family exhibited symptoms of the novel coronavirus in late January, when panic shot through the streets of Wuhan, with fraught people seeking beds and testing kits overwhelmed the city’s hospital network. According to Cheng’s account, hundreds of potentially ill patients lined up the city’s 7 main hospitals, which according to him may have summed up to 10,000 cases on a conservative scale as compared to the official Chinese tally of 2,600 cases that was published a week later. Cheng believes that the death toll must be higher too, though he couldn’t provide the estimate, given the scale of the pandemic that continues to ravage the city.

Several other residents of Wuhan believe that the Chinese government has not been entirely truthful regarding the actual count of people who had died of the virus. Thousands of stacks of urn outside funeral homes in Hubei province had seeded doubts among the residents of Wuhan about the real tally of COVID-19 related deaths.

Mounting pressure from Chinese residents and the allegations of opacity from the international community over the suspiciously low count of deaths due to coronavirus had forced China to revise its official death toll. The new numbers, a 50 per cent increased in the previous count, has only added to the scepticism surrounding the accuracy of China’s coronavirus count. There are still strong suspicions that the actual number of infected and dead due to the Wuhan Coronavirus is far greater

Chinese residents seek explanation over the coronavirus fiasco

Besides the doubts over the real count of China’s coronavirus victims, residents in Wuhan are also wary of the efficacy of the government’s much-vaunted ‘Early Warning Disease- Control System’ that China developed in the aftermath of the SARS epidemic in 2002-2003. Residents are also searching for answers over why the whistle-blower doctors and scientists were mistreated and precluded from ringing the alarm bells about a possible outbreak of a highly contagious disease.

Tian, a sales representative for a drone company based out of Wuhan, is infuriated over the inexplicable behaviour of Chinese authorities in covering up the outbreak and in silencing the doctors who had detected the contagion in its early stage. He also raised concerns about why the ‘Early Warning Disease- Control System’ which was developed by spending millions of dollars, failed in alerting the officials about the imminent flare-up of the virus.

Another Wuhan resident, Wang, 26, was particularly miffed with the government’s obnoxious behaviour meted out to the whistle-blower red flag was Li Wenliang, an ophthalmologist who warned colleagues and friends in an online group about a number of “SARS-like” cases at his hospital. Li later contracted the disease and died in early February which served as a watershed moment in reshaping China’s response to the pandemic. Wang, who thinks that China’s authoritarian system had marginalised medical experts, believes that Li’s death may serve as a momentous event in altering the communist government’s attitude towards the medical practitioners.

Zhang Zhonglin, a hotel owner in Wuhan, is irked by the Chinese authorities for remaining tight-lipped about the lurking pandemic until January 23. “There were obviously a number of [Covid-19] cases in December and there were some whistle-blowers,” he said while adding, “There was definitely government inaction then, and we volunteered and acted on our own to help.”

Zhang, along with dozens of other hoteliers, opened up their hotel for free for doctors and nurses combating the coronavirus on frontlines. However, as the lockdown restrictions are gradually being lifted in Wuhan, Zhang and others like him are struggling in getting their businesses moving. They are bewildered as to why the government has not displayed any sympathy for them when they helped the government during the crisis.

Wikipedia deletes article on Tablighi Jamaat hotspot of Coronavirus calling it anti-Muslim, administrator uses Supervote to overrule majority vote to retain article

OpIndia Staff
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Wikipedia deletes article on Tablighi Jamaat hotspot of Coronavirus calling it anti-Muslim, administrator uses Supervote to overrule majority vote to retain article

By now it has been established that Wikipedia has become a bastion of Leftist-Ismalists. A small number of individuals now control what can be published on the crowd-sourced online encyclopaedia, and these individuals tend to have a pro-Islamist bias. The latest example of the same is a Wikipedia article on the role of Tablighi Jamaat in spreading the Wuhan Coronavirus in India, which was deleted after a voting process where an overwhelming majority had voted against its deletion.

The Tablighi Jamaat congregation, which took place in Nizamuddin Markaz in the first half of March, has become the mega-spreader of Coronavirus in India, as many as more than one-third cases in India are linked to that event now. People who had attended the event, and their family members and those who came into contact with them are testing positive regularly, contributing the increase in the number of COVID-19 cases in the country.

Therefore, the Tablighi Jamaat has become an important angle to the Coronavirus Pandemic in India, along with some other countries. In view of this, a Wikipedia page was created on 2nd April. But soon it came under the attack of Islamist editors, and it was nominated for deletion on the same day. After a discussion as per rules of Wikipedia, the article was deleted on 10th April.

The deletion discussion

The arguments given for deleting the article defies logic, while some others are outright lies. It is interesting that the person who had nominated the article for nomination originally, withdrew his nomination on a later date, but still the page was deleted by administrators. The person who goes by the username Kautilya3 on Wikipedia, had withdrawn the nomination on 5th April, ‘because the size of the hotspot has turned out to be much larger than previously known’, and said that this appears to be a legitimate topic for an article.

A total of 38 people had participated in the discussion to delete the article, and in them, only 12 persons had advocated for deletion. 23 persons had voted to not delete and keep the article, while 3 had said that it should be merged with other Coronavirus related articles in India. Those who had supported the deletion said that the article was biased and anti-Muslim. While those who had advocated to keep it had argued that it is a significant event that merits its own Wikipedia page, as it has become the largest source of Coronavirus in India, accounting for one-third of positive cases.

The Supervote

Despite the majority wanting to keep the article, one Wikipedia administration with the user name Sandstein decided to delete the page, using his power which is known as ‘Wikipedia: Supervote’ on the site. This term means an administration taking a decision without entering into a discussion and without taking into consideration the opinions of others.

Sandstein also posted a monologue on the deletion discussion page giving justification for the deletion, which nowhere comes near standard policies of Wikipedia. The administrator wrote, “there are a lot of tensions between Hindus and Muslims in India, and there is also increasing state-sanctioned Islamophobia and persecution of Muslims in India”. Which is clearly a personal opinion of a person against the governments in India, which was used to take a decision on Wikipedia.

While Wikipedia thrives on notability, which means the validity of articles are decided on the basis of their notability, Sandstein surprisingly wrote that “arguments based on notability criteria should not be given decisive weight in the context of this kind of topic”. The administrator also wrote that they should limit the amount of article creation only because the subject in question is “highly volatile and rife with misinformation and tensions in the real world and on Wikipedia”, which makes no sense and there is no such policy in Wikipedia.  

Therefore, the article was deleted based on the personal opinion of an administrator, going against majority of editors who had participated in the discussion. Most importantly, the original nominator for deletion has withdrawn the nomination, but despite that the administrator chose to apply a Supervote to delete the article due to allegations of Islamophobia.

Although decisions on Wikipedia are not taken based on majority, and therefore the number of votes does not matter as the discussions are held mainly to arrive at a consensus. But even in that scenario, a glance on the deletion discussion shows that it was deleted just on the allegations on being ‘anti-Muslim’ and ‘fanning religious hatred’, which are unproven, while the arguments for keeping it were backed by solid logic.

Baseless accusation of anti-Muslim

It is interesting to note that while the article on Indian Tablighi Jamaat was deleted accusing it of being anti-Muslim, a similar Wikipedia page exists for the Islamic Republic of Pakistan. While Muslims in Pakistan do not hesitate in recording the role of Tablighi Jamaat in spreading coronavirus, leftists and Islamists in India think it is anti-Muslim if the same is done in India.

It has been established that the members of Tablighi Jamaat has been responsible for the spread of COVID-19 in several states of the country. That is established by the fact that in bulletins about new cases, individual state governments are reporting the number of cases linked to the Jamaat, even if some of them have some replaced the words ‘Tablighi Jamaat’ with generic names like ‘single source’ or ‘special operations’ due to attacks from Islamists.

For example, in Assam which have 34 positive cases for coronavirus, as many as 33 are linked to the Tablighi Jamaat event that took place in Nizamuddin Markaz in Delhi in the first half of March. Similarly, in most of the states, Tablighi Jamaat members account for majority of the cases, while the Jamaat members are also found hiding in mosques avoiding testing, and also avoiding treatment in case they test positive. They are also misbehaving with healthcare workers and others in hospitals and quarantine centres.

The Tablighi Jamaat has become a super spreader of Coronavirus, and the information about them is important in containing the highly contagious virus. To document the various event that led to it can’t be termed anti-Muslim just because it is an Islamic congregation. Any large group spreading majority of the infection merits documentation, and Tablighi Jamaat is one of them. But Islamists are working overtime to whitewash the role of the Jamaat, who had already forced two states to replace the words ‘Tablighi Jamaat’ in their bulletins. This deletion of the Wikipedia page looks like just another step in that whitewashing effort. Now a deletion review request has been filed on Wikipedia, requesting for deletion of the article. Most people participating in this discussion agree that the article should be restored, and the administrator deleted it based on his personal opinion without any valid logic. But Sandstein replied to the discussion affirming that it will be kept deleted. The administrator quoted an article by New York Times alleging that Coronavirus is fuelling religious hatred in India, while New York Times’ hatred for India is well known.

It is a repeat offence

A couple of months ago similar bias in Wikipedia had become evident when they tried to paint the Delhi riots as anti-Muslim riots perpetrated by Hindus, while the reality was the exact opposite. The article had labelled BJP leader Kapil Mishra as the main architect of the riots for his one speech calling for the maintenance of law and order, while had refused to name Muslim leaders who were seen leading the riots in videos. Later it was revealed that one Wikipedia editor with the user name DBigXray was spreading anti-Hindu venom in several articles on the encyclopaedia site.

These incidents have once again showed that while Wikipedia remains good source for topics on general knowledge, science etc, it has become very unreliable for topics related to politics, society, and current affairs, as the personal bias of the administers decide what is published and what is not on the website.

Watch: Karnataka Police lathi-charge people congregated at Mosque for Friday Namaaz amidst Coronavirus lockdown

OpIndia Staff
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Watch: Karnataka Police lathi-charge people congregated at Mosque for Friday Namaaz amidst Coronavirus lockdown

On April 17, cops lathi-charged a group of Muslims who had congregated for Friday Namaaz at a mosque in the town of Haveri, Karnataka in complete defiance of the social distancing guidelines and the nationwide lockdown that was imposed in the wake of the Wuhan Coronavirus outbreak.

In the video, Muslim devotees could be seen exiting the mosque, following the Friday Namaaz when they were thrashed individually by the cops standing there.

Friday Namaaz in Belgaum proved costly

Earlier, a video emerged on social media where Karnataka police were seen thrashing people as they left the Mosque after Namaz, and were violating the lockdown. In the video, a group of Muslims could be seen coming out of the Mosque after offering Namaz.

At that point, the police took action against the congregation in the bid to disperse the crowd that was violating the lockdown. In the lockdown order, it was specifically mentioned that all religious institutions would also remain closed for the period of 21-days of the lockdown.

Namaazis attack cops

On April 3, a large gathering of Muslims in Karnataka’s Hubbali district attacked police officials when they tried to stop them from offering namaaz en masse amidst the nationwide lockdown to blunt the spread of coronavirus. 4 police officials, including one woman constable, were injured by Muslim youths as they pelted stones at the police personnel for stopping them from congregating amidst the looming threat of the Chinese Virus.

The cops had sustained minor injuries and were admitted to KIMS hospital for treatment. According to Police Commissioner R Dileep, an investigation into stone pelting incident has been ordered and suspected individuals involved in the attack against the police personnel have been detained.

Hindustan Times misleads its readers by twisting the comments made by an ‘expert’ on the relation between spitting and spread of diseases

OpIndia Staff
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Hindustan Times misleads its readers by twisting the comments made by an ‘expert’ on the relation between spitting and spread of diseases

The Hindustan Times in an interview published on the 17th of April 2020 insinuated that spitting was not as much of a significant issue as people would like to believe. The headline and the caption for it in its tweet was probably designed to whitewash the threat that members of the Tablighi Jamaat has been posing with their relentless spitting on doctors and all around. However, it appears that the words of the ‘expert’ were deliberately misled to give the readers an inaccurate impression.

Source: Hindustan Times/Twitter

What the Professor actually said about health risks posed by Spitting

First of all, the said ‘expert’, Professor Ross Coomber, is the head of the department of sociology, social policy and criminology, University of Liverpool, the United Kingdom (UK). He is not an epidemiologist, he is not qualified enough to speak on the actual threat that spitting poses to the health of the community. Moreover, when the professor did speak about the low risk posed by spitting, he was not even referring to the Wuhan Coronavirus. Professor Coomber was specifically referring to diseases such as HIV, hepatitis A, B and C and said that in the case of tuberculosis, spitting was low in the hierarchies of risk factors.

What the Professor actually said

The Professor’s remarks about Spitting in the context of the Coronavirus

When it came to the Wuhan Coronavirus, the professor actually said that it was best to stop spitting altogether. He said, “Social distancing and sensible all-round behaviour (washing hands etc.) are probably the most important. It seems sensible to suggest that not forcefully projecting bodily fluids into the air should be behaviour but I would suggest that spitting to the ground is not the same as spitting into the air, which happens rarely. It is probably best and sensible to stop all projectile bodily emissions in the current context, whenever possible.”

Thus, quite clearly, Hindustan Times, in its bid to shield the gross behaviour of Tablighi Jamaat first asked a professor who does not have adequate authority to comment on the matter and even then, twisted his words to present a completely different picture so that the actual threat posed by the Islamic missionary organization could be downplayed. Meanwhile, members of the Tablighi Jamaat have spat on doctors and the healthcare staff in order to get them infected with the virus and their horrendous behaviour shows no signs of abating.

The deplorable conduct of Tablighi Jamaat

Members of the Tablighi Jamaat have engaged in horrendous conduct ever since they were admitted to hospitals after being diagnosed with the Wuhan Coronavirus. They have spat on doctors, thrown tantrums and demanded ‘spicy beef biryani’ instead of the doctor prescribed food, sexually harassed the female healthcare staff at hospitals, refused to cooperate with the the healthcare staff and created ruckus and labeled deluded accusations at doctors. Furthermore, they have been trying to avoid detection by the administration and in certain cases, have switched off their mobile phones to avoid detection.

Kashmiri terrorist Aijaz Ahangar, who had ‘vanished’ 25 years ago, arrested in Kandahar by Afghan Security forces: Report

OpIndia Staff
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Kashmiri terrorist Aijaz Ahangar, who had ‘vanished’ 25 years ago, arrested in Kandahar by Afghan Security forces: Report

A Kashmiri terrorist originally known as Aijaz Ahmad Ahangar has been arrested earlier this month by Afghanistan’s National Directorate of Security in Kandahar. Ahangar is a native of Nawa Kadal in Srinagar, has been wanted for two decades in the valley.

As per a report in Hindustan Times, he was arrested once in mid-nineties on the allegation of terror links but released later. Aijaz Ahangar aka Abu Usman Al Kashmiri traveled to Bangladesh after his release from Central Jail and from there he took a flight to Pakistan.

After a span of nearly 25 years, he was finally arrested by Afghan forces. The NDS was focussed to catch Aslam Farooqui, the Chief of Islamic State ‘Khorasan Province’ who claimed the responsibility for 25 March Gurudwara attack in Kabul which claimed the lives of 27 Sikh worshippers. Aijaz Ahangar’s arrest had gone unnoticed till now.

An Afghan watcher said, “It was a surprise.” As per the HT report, Ahangar had identified himself as Ali Mohammad from Islamabad in the early questioning.

Terrorist links in India

Ahangar’s Father-in-law Abdullah Ghazali is also known as Abdul Ghani Dar was a Lashkar-e-Taiba commander and played a role in the formation of the Tehreek-ul-Mujahideen in 1990, that recruited militants from Pakistan and Pakistan occupied Kashmir. Ahangar had married Ghazali’s daughter Rukhsana.

Ghazali was found murdered inside Jamia Masjid Ahle Hadith at Maisuma near Lal Chowk, Srinagar’s business hub in this year’s February. He was 80. Abdullah Gazali was allegedly involved in a 2011 murder of Maulana Showkat Ahmad Shah, the then president of the Jamiat Ahle Hadith. However, he was granted bail in 2015. Ghazali’s murder was attributed to faction rivalry in Ahle-Hadith.

Ahnagar’s son Abdullah Umais was killed a few years ago after fighting against Afghanistan’s Nangarhar. His Son-in-law Huzaifa-Al-Bakistani was a top online recruiter of ISKP who was killed in a US drone attack in Afghanistan in 2019.

Went To Pakistan via Bangladesh

Aijaz Ahangar allegedly went to Pakistan Via Bangladesh rather than taking the route through Line of Control despite terror links from across the border.

As per reports, Ahangar settled in Islamabad with the help of Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence and married for the second time to Aisha, a resident of Pakistan Occupied Kashmir.

After a brief association with Al Qaeda, he joined the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria and later he joined Islamic State-Khorasan Province.

Armed terrorists and suicide bombers had attacked a Gurudwara in the Shor Bazar area in Kabul, Afghanistan on 25 March, leaving 27 Sikhs dead and at least 15 injured. The Islamic State (ISIS) had claimed the responsibility for the attack. While one suicide bomber detonated himself at the entrance, three ISIS terrorists stormed the shrine in the Shorbazar area Wednesday morning (25 March). Around 150 people were worshipping in the Gurudwara at the time of the attack.

Meet Vidya Krishnan: A ‘health journalist’ who is more interested in playing politics than reporting on healthcare

OpIndia Staff
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Meet Vidya Krishnan: A ‘health journalist’ who is more interested in playing politics than reporting on healthcare

With the advent of the Wuhan Coronavirus pandemic, one journalist has suddenly shot to fame from relative obscurity. The name of the journalist is Vidya Krishnan and her reporters feature on numerous publications including The Caravan and The Atlantic. Although she claims to be a ‘health journalist’, she appears to be more interested in politics than the nitty-gritty of healthcare. In recent times, she has received attention in equal measure for her political biases as much for her ‘health journalism’, which has not been up to the mark.

In a The Caravan report titled “Modi administration did not consult ICMR-appointed COVID task force before key decisions”, Vidya Krishnan falsely claimed that many members of the COVID-19 Task Force are unaware of the decisions taken by the Indian Government under Prime Minister Modi. It was contended that experts were not aware of the government’s decision to extend the lockdown until the 3rd of May. The Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) refuted her claims through social media. The ICMR clarified that in the past one month, the Task Force had met 14 times and that all decisions taken involve the members of the Task Force.

The Caravan Magazine article spreading falsehood

It was not the first time that Vidya Krishnan has spread lies about the Indian Government’s response to the pandemic, however. In an earlier report, she 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.

Vidya Krisnan lied about the government’s admission of local transmission

As it turns out, at least for The Caravan, Vidya Krishnan has not written one single positive report about the Indian healthcare industry. The Indian healthcare system may not be very good and requires vast vast improvements, however, it is perplexing that there isn’t a single positive story to report about the industry in six long years.

Vidya Krishnan’s reports and commentary on The Caravan

Al Jazeera has carried only two reports by Vidya Krishnan and they tell a similar story.

Vidya Krishnan on Al Jazeera

Additionally, in a report penned by Vidya Krishnan and published by The Atlantic, a distorted image of the Indian Flag was used. In the report, India’s efforts to contain the spread of the virus was again denigrated and the hallowed Ashoka Chakra was replaced with an artistic representation of the Wuhan Coronavirus.

Vidya Krishnan report on The Atlantic

The reports that Vidya Krishnan has penned for The Atlantic, too, are of a similar nature. They are unidirectional in their approach and sorely critical of the Indian response to the Wuhan Coronavirus pandemic.

Vidya Krishnan on The Atlantic

Meanwhile, Vidya Krishnan been mocking Prime Minister Modi’s initiative to raise awareness by wearing homemade masks during his interactions. She claimed that the Prime Minister wearing a mask during a video conference somehow suggested ‘tokenism’ and a lack of ‘common sense’ in India’s response to the Chinese virus. Meanwhile, India has been lauded by the likes of the World Health Organisation for its efforts in containing the pandemic. And anyone with half a brain and devoid of any motivated agenda would be aware that the Narendra Modi was only trying to lead by example at a time when masks have proven to be effective in combating the spread of the virus.

Furthermore, the ‘health journalist’ also appears to be working overtime to run cover for the Tablighi Jamaat and its horrendous conduct that has severely jeopardized India’s efforts to contain the pandemic. She compared the contribution of the Tablighi Jamaat to the Coronavirus cases in India to that of the ISKCON in the United Kingdom, even though the two are not even in the same plane. Tablighi Jamaat occupies a lion’s share of the total number of COVID-19 cases in India while in the UK, ISKCON makes up only a minuscule proportion of it.

Vidya Krishnan comparing the ISKCON to Tablighi Jamaat

Vidya Krishnan has also been deeply invested in slandering journalists who have reported on the manner in which significant sections of the Muslim community have flouted guidelines issued by the government to combat the Wuhan Coronavirus pandemic. According to her, the journalists should follow ‘WHO guidelines’ instead of reporting facts on the matter. The same WHO whose credibility lies in tatters after it was found running propaganda for the Chinese government.

Vidya Krishnan running cover for rule breakers from the Muslim community

Vidya Krishnan has also been going around claiming that the Indian Government is obstructing journalist from reporting facts on the issue of the Wuhan Coronavirus pandemic. In an interview she gave to the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), she claimed, “One of the things that I’m genuinely concerned about is the threats in my inbox. I don’t have a correct threat perception for it, because an email is just an email, but then I know from experience and from having common friends with Gauri Lankesh, that she used to get a lot of hate like that, up until someone showed up at her home one day and shot her. I constantly tell myself that’s not going to happen, but that is in my head.

Vidya Krishnan also claimed that she feared the kind of ‘judicial harassment’ that The Wire is facing. In reality, Siddharth Varadarajan and The Wire are in the dock for spreading blatant fake news about Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath by attributing fake quotes to him. She makes several other dubious allegations which is consistent with the kind of reporting she has been engaging in.

The Board of Directors of the CPJ include journalists and persons from the New York Times, NBC, Bloomberg News, Al Jazeera and The New Yorker among others. Such outlets have regularly flouted all journalistic norms and ethics and if such abuses were committed by any organization in any other sector, there would have been serious repercussions. But when one is engaged in the business of shaping public opinion, there is a lot that organizations can get away with.

Quite clearly, Vidya Krishnan may be a ‘health journalist’ but her motivations are purely political. Nothing else explains her resolute defense of Tablighi Jamaat or spreading mala fide lies about the government and its response to the Wuhan Coronavirus pandemic. To be clear, there are various issues regarding which greater transparency from the government would be appreciated. For instance, the religious demography of those infected and the deceased as well as it would help toward formulating better public policies.

Similarly, there are issues where the Government of India could be criticized legitimately. For instance, its failure to provide greater transparency into the social groups most affected by the virus or its decision to go forward with Home Quarantine which was often flouted by people instead of quarantining the in secure places. These decision are indeed worthy of criticism and ought to be criticized but somehow, the government has hardly received any criticism on such matters but has been criticized widely on issues that it has been remarkably proactive in. Such criticism reeks of mala fide intentions. And this is something Vidya Krishnan is acutely guilty of.

This moving graph shows how Maharashtra toppled Kerala to be No. 1 in coronavirus positive cases in India

OpIndia Staff
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This moving graph shows how Maharashtra toppled Kerala to be No. 1 in coronavirus positive cases in India

With initial 3 cases of Coronavirus detected in the last week of January in Kerala, the number have crossed 13000 in India after two and a half months. While the first cases were reported from Kerala and NCR region, now Maharashtra has the highest number of Wuhan Coronavirus positive cases, followed by Delhi, Tamil Nadu and Madhya Pradesh. A large portion of the infections in the country can be traced back to the Tablighi Jamaat congregation that took place in the first half of March in Nizamuddin Markaz in Delhi.

Here is a moving graph which showed how the number of cases emerged in various states after March 1, and how the numbers in Maharashtra rapidly increased to occupy the top position, with almost the twice the numbers than the state in the second position, Delhi.

– Please wait for the moving graph i.e. data visualization to load below –

This moving graph (data visualisation) has been created by Abhishek A. Mukherjee, a masters degree student at RWTH Aachen University in Germany. The graph has been prepared using data published by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare on its website.

This interesting data visualisation shows Maharashtra reported its first COVID-19 case only on 8th March, when the chart was dominated by Kerala, Uttar Pradesh Delhi. Just a week later, the state overtook Kerala on 14th March, and remained in top upto 23 March. On that date Kerala again occupied the top position with 87 cases against 86 of Maharashtra. But it was short-lived, as Maharashtra again overtook Kerala the very next day. The same thing happened on 27th March when both the states exchanged positions for a brief time. On 29th again Kerala became the state with highest coronavirus cases, to be overtaken by Maharashtra on 31st.

Till 31st March, both Maharashtra and Kerala were having similar numbers with small difference, but it changed drastically in April, as the numbers in Maharashtra rose at a steep rate, while Kerala kept the numbers in control. Gradually other states like Tamil Nadu, Delhi, Rajasthan, Telangana, Uttar Pradesh etc overtook Kerala, and as of today, Kerala occupies the last spot in the top 10 states.

Taiwan had warned WHO about the severity of Wuhan Coronavirus outbreak: Here is the email WHO ignored

OpIndia Staff
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Taiwan had warned WHO about the severity of Wuhan Coronavirus outbreak: Here is the email WHO ignored

On December 31, Taiwan had written to the World Health Organisation raising questions about the human-to-human contact spread aspect of the Wuhan coronavirus but was ignored by the WHO. As per reports, the organisation also denied providing critical information about how to combat the deadly pathogen.

On April 11, Taiwan released the contents of the email. When 7 atypical cases of pneumonia were reported in Wuhan, Taiwan’s Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) wrote to WHO informing that China had reported that the cases were not that of Severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) even though samplers were under examination at that time.

Taiwan’s CDC stated, “However because at the time there were as yet no cases of the disease in Taiwan, we could not state directly and conclusively that there had been human-to-human transmission.”

Taiwan has been living under the shadow of China that has refused to accept its sovereignty for 70 years. As such, the country was excluded from the World Health Organisation. It is crucial to mention that the WHO initially denied the existence of any conclusive evidence that could prove human-to-human transmission.

The World Health Organisation failed to persuade China to share live strains of the Wuhan Coronavirus that could have been used for diagnostic tests and helped contain the pandemic. They also denied ever being cautioned by Taiwan about the potential human-to-human transmission of the Chinese virus.

Erroneous Claims of WHO

Earlier, the World Health Organisation (WHO) had conceded the misleading nature of an “erroneous” situation report wherein it confused India’s “cluster of Coronavirus cases” with that of “community transmission.” Speaking to a news outlet, WHO informed that the error has been corrected.

Community transmission is defined as the spread of an infection where its source can’t be identified. It is the third stage of disease transmission, while India is currently at stage two or local transmission, where the Coronavirus is spreading among close contacts and the source of the infection can be identified.

The organisation has told a news outlet that the error had now been fixed. When the WHO had alleged instances of “community transmission” of COVID-19 in the country, the government of India had denied all such claims.

Allegations of Cover-up

On April 8, former United States Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley had said that the relationship between China and the WHO needed to be investigated. She made the comments during her appearance on Sean Hannity’s talk show on Fox News. Haley said that the relationship between China and the World Health Organisation was a threat to the sovereignty of the United States of America.

She also noted that Taiwan had warned the WHO of human-to-human transmission but it was summarily ignored due to China’s influence. “Why did it take a whole month for the World Health Organization to respond? You want to know why that is? Because China has kept Taiwan from being a member of the World Health Organization,” Haley said.

WHO Chief Tedros was accused of covering up epidemics in his home country Ethiopia even while he was the health minister in the government in the days before he became the director of the WHO. A prominent global health expert, who was also an informal advisor to Tedros’s rival for the WHO top spot, had accused him of covering up three epidemics in Ethiopia

The US stops Funding for WHO

The US President Donald Trump had also suspended funding for the World Health Organisation until a review was conducted to assess its role in mismanaging the Chinese coronavirus outbreak.

He said, “Everybody knows what is going on there. American taxpayers provide between 400-500 million dollars per year to the WHO and in contrast, China contributes roughly 40 million dollars a year or even less. As the organisation’s leading sponsor, the United States has a duty to insist on full accountability. One of the most dangerous and costly decisions from the WHO was its disastrous decision to oppose travel restrictions from China and other nations. “

Strangled by coronavirus outbreak, Chinese economy shrinks for the first time since 1976, contracts by 6.8 per cent in Q1 2020

OpIndia Staff
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Strangled by coronavirus outbreak, Chinese economy shrinks for the first time since 1976, contracts by 6.8 per cent in Q1 2020

The scourge of Wuhan Coronavirus has brought the remarkable growth-run of the Chinese economy to an end as China reported the contraction of its economy for the first time since the end of the Cultural Revolution in 1976. Ravaged by the coronavirus outbreak, China’s economy shrank by 6.8 per cent in the first three months of 2020.

On Friday morning, the data released by the Chinese National Bureau of Statistics confirmed the economic decline and shattered the expectations of the analysts who had pegged the economic slump caused due to coronavirus at minus 6 per cent. The data puts an end to China’s unfettered growth that had braved disruptions such as the Tiananmen Square crackdown, SARS epidemic and the 2008 global financial crisis.

Though China started measuring its GDP growth since 1992, the data existing in the public domain suggests that China has not witnessed an economic recession in more than 40 years.

As the world’s second largest economy enforced harsh measures to contain the spread of the coronavirus in the first three months, carrying out extensive shutdown and widespread lockdown, China’s economy was under a severe strain in the month of March, with the industrial sectors, retail and fixed asset investment all contracting dramatically over the decline observed in the first two months of the year.

Read: More to be added? China increases its official death toll in Wuhan from Coronavirus by 50%

Industrial production, a barometer for the country’s overall economy, shrunk by 1.1 per cent in March after declining 13.5 per cent over the period of January and February while manufacturing registered a fall of 10.2 per cent, suggesting that even as the outbreak subsides in China, economic woes continue to exacerbate.

Retail sales in China sunk by 15.8 per cent in the last month of the quarter after registering a record drop of 20.5 per cent in the month two months of the year.

The Fixed asset investment, a measure of expenditure over the year to date on items including infrastructure, property, machinery and equipment, collapsed by 16.1 per cent in the first quarter tormented by the menace of coronavirus.

In addition, the value-added of the primary industry diminished by 3.2 per cent, that of the secondary industry by 9.6 per cent and of the tertiary industry by 5.2 per cent.

China had announced earlier this week that its exports had fallen by 6.6 per cent in the first three months of the year.

Meanwhile, the analysts predict that China is set to grow by 1.2 per cent this year, down from the 6.0 per cent growth forecasted by the IMF in January this year.

Uttar Pradesh: Court hearing at 3 am, jailed by 5 am, read how Moradabad officials ensured all stone pelters are behind bars before Friday morning

OpIndia Staff
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Uttar Pradesh: Court hearing at 3 am, jailed by 5 am, read how Moradabad officials ensured all stone pelters are behind bars before Friday morning

As part of Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath’s zero-tolerance approach to crime and mob violence, the Uttar Pradesh police have arrested 17 Moradabad stone pelters, who had attacked frontline healthcare workers. They have been sent them to 14-day judicial custody after a hearing was arranged for the matter at 3 am on April 17 (Friday). All these 17 people were put behind bars by 5.15 am, almost within two hours after the matter was heard. Among the 17 who have been jailed seven are women.

Urgent hearing

According to a report by Amar Ujala, the hearing took place at the residence of the remand magistrate. The step was taken looking at the seriousness of the matter.

All 17 people have been quarantined in jail. Taking into account that all these 17 mobsters are from Nawabpura locality in Moradabad district, the same emerging hotspot, where a patient has died of the Chinese virus, they have been kept separately in jail.

As per the reports, the police and administration officials were aware that the violence may intensify further. So they took urgent steps to arrange a court hearing. Remand magistrate agreed for a hearing at his residence itself and within two hours, the culprits were behind bars. DM Rakesh Singh and SSP Amit Pathak were there the entire time. The police officials were concerned that keeping the arrested persons inside the small police station in Nagfani may be unsafe as a larger mob might attack the station.

40 more stone pelters identified in Moradabad attack:

The Moradabad police, investigating the case, has claimed that they have identified more than 40 people with the help of CCTV footage, photographs and videos of the incident.

Moradabad Additional Superintendent of Police Amit Kumar Anand said teams had been formed to arrest newly identified people. “We are identifying the people who were present there and involved in the attack. Teams have been formed to arrest them. We have identified more than 40 people,” said Anand.

NSA slapped, UP government to seize assets if damages are not paid for:

Issuing a stern warning to mobsters, UP CM Yogi Adityanath had said that not only will they be booked under the Epidemic Diseases Act but they’ll also be slapped with sections of NSA.

Yogi Adityanath has also directed authorities to seize the properties of Moradabad attackers and violent lockdown violators if they fail to pay for the damages done to government property.

The Chief Minister also issued orders to magistrates and police chiefs of districts to ensure the security of health officials and take tough action against those involved in the attack of health workers.

25 accused, including 13 women arrested yesterday:

As many as 25 people including 13 women were arrested for pelting stones at the medical team in Moradabad, Uttar Pradesh. Issuing a stern warning to mobsters, UP CM Yogi Adityanath had said that not only will they be booked under the Epidemic Diseases Act but they’ll also be slapped with sections of NSA.

The NSA allows preventive detention for up to 12 months without a charge if the authorities are satisfied that the person is a threat to national security or law and order.

Moradabad stone-pelting incident:

The incident took place at Haji Neb Masjid area in Moradabad when a team of doctors and medical staff went to take away two persons suspected of having novel coronavirus in the area. The mob pelted had stones at the ambulance and doctors, severely injuring many and damaging government vehicles.

The stones were also pelted on the police van which came to rescue the health workers later. Several people have been injured in the ensuing mayhem, including Dr Sudhish Agrawal. According to health officials, hundreds of people came out on the streets to attack the medical team.

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