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West Bengal: Bureaucrat’s son tests positive for coronavirus two days after returning from the UK, was not in isolation

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West Bengal: Bureaucrat’s son tests positive for coronavirus two days after returning from the UK, was not in isolation

Amidst the Coronavirus outbreak, West Bengal reported it’s first confirmed case, becoming the 16th state to report a positive coronavirus infection. An 18-year-old youth, with a travel history to the United Kingdom, where almost 55 people have died after being tested positive and almost 1,950 were confirmed as positive, was tested positive for the Covid-19.

The affected youth reportedly returned from the UK on March 15 (Sunday) and didn’t go into quarantine as he was not showing any symptoms. He only got admitted at Beleghata Infectious Diseases Hospital in Kolkata on Tuesday after he showed symptom. He later tested positive for Covid-19. He is one of 18 people admitted to the ID Hospital at present.

The boy is the son of a secretary-level bureaucrat, working in the home department in Nabanna the state secretariat building in West Bengal. The bureaucrat mother of the patient had been attending office at the Bengal state secretariat until Monday. The building houses the Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee’s Office, other ministries and departments.

One of his four throat swab test results at the National Institute of Cholera and Enteric Diseases (NICED) came positive for novel coronavirus infection.

His parents and driver have been kept in isolation, they are being checked for any symptoms. He too has been kept in a separate ward in isolation.

Sources further revealed that the youth attended a party in England where four others had tested positive for the novel coronavirus.

In the meanwhile, Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee has stated that it is wrong to say that a positive case has been reported from Kolkata since the boy had contracted the disease from the UK.

Health Department sources also said that currently, the state government is trying to identify others who came in contact with the youth, and added that they will also be quarantined.

The total coronavirus positive cases in India has climbed to 153, which includes 25 foreign nationals and three persons who died in Delhi, Karnataka and Maharashtra. 12 fresh cases have been reported from various parts of the country on Wednesday itself.

The Prime Minister’s Office, Ministry of Health & Family Welfare (MoHFW) and Cabinet Secretary are closely monitoring the situation of COVID-19, invoking powers under The Epidemic Diseases Act, 1897 to enhance preparedness and containment of the virus. State Disaster Response Fund (SDRF), constituted under Section 48 (1) (a) of the Disaster Management Act, 2005, is now available with State Governments for responding to COVID-19, which has been declared a notified disaster. Various measures have been taken by the Central Ministries along with States/UTs in terms of strengthened community surveillance, quarantine facilities, isolation wards, adequate PPEs, trained manpower, rapid response teams for management of COVID-19.

Mumbai: Cancer patient from Arunachal Pradesh denied entry in housing society calling him ‘Chinese’, Arunachal CM intervenes

OpIndia Staff
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Mumbai: Cancer patient from Arunachal Pradesh denied entry in housing society calling him ‘Chinese’, Arunachal CM intervenes

Amidst the rising fears surrounding the spread of the coronavirus, a cancer patient from North East India was denied entry in a flat in Mulund society in Mumbai over the apprehensions of the virus assuming him to be Chinese national.

Dorji Rinzin, 74, whose chemotherapy at Tata hospital was scheduled to begin on Tuesday, was left in a limbo of uncertainty when he was told on Monday that he couldn’t enter the Sainath Estates, where a flat owned by Bombay Friendship Centre owned is offered as free accommodation to patients, activists and self-help groups.

Tsering Yangzom, daughter of Rinzin, who has accompanied him for his treatment, said that the watchman at the society prevented them from entering. “We were denied entry into the society. The watchman said that we cannot get in as we were from China and might be infected by the dreaded virus,” she said. Tsering Yangzom further stated that they had stayed at the flat earlier for a month during his father’s treatment and the residents of the society had raised no objection then. “The last time we were here, no one had protested against our staying in the society. But this time around, they simply wouldn’t let us in. We have come all the way from Arunachal Pradesh for treatment and looking for a safe place for a stay,” she added. Despite showing documents that they were Indians, the society didn’t let them in.

After being denied entry to the society, Yangzom then approached the secretary of the Bombay Friendship Centre, Anil Hebbar, to sort out the issue with the society residents. However, the inhabitants told him that society is not allowing any outsiders amidst the coronavirus scare. “I spoke to the current and the former secretaries of the building who informed me that they were following the preventive measures announced by the Police and the BMC,” Hebbar said. “We have a flat on the seventh floor which we let to those who cannot afford a hotel during their stay in the city. Despite having valid documents, he was not allowed to enter the building this time,” said Anil Hebbar.

As the society members remained firm on their stand, refusing to allow Yangzom and her father in their society, Hebbar then arranged the accommodation for the father-daughter duo at a guest house operated by the Arunachal Pradesh government in Navi Mumbai. However, they had to commute a long distance to reach the hospital.

Later the members of the housing society claimed that they were denied entry not because of coronavirus scare, but because the NGO had not informed about them in advance. Kashinath Gaikwad, one of the committee members, said, “we had already summoned Anil Hebbar for sending people to the flat without prior intimation a month ago. But, the NGO does not care about it. This is a housing society, not a lodge,” he said.

He said that “during this tough time, if they accommodate anyone from another state, who would guarantee they are clean. We requested them to make some other arrangements for the time being. We have sympathy for the patient, but we cannot do anything about it.”

Before long, the chief minister of Arunachal Pradesh, Pema Khandu, took cognisance of the matter and posted on Twitter today that his office has taken up the matter and coordination is being done.

One of the health department officials privy to the matter said that action will be taken against the society members for restricting Mr Rinzin and his daughter’s stay at the society. “The government has been clear about its instructions regarding the preventive measures to be followed. It has not asked to place restrictions on patients’ accommodation. We will thoroughly investigate the matter and take action against the guilty,” the official said.

Later police issued orders that Rinzin can stay at the society, and once he is able to move, he will be shifted there.

This is a call from Allah, we do not fear Coronavirus, say burqa-clad protestors at Shaheen Bagh

OpIndia Staff
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This is a call from Allah, we do not fear Coronavirus, say burqa-clad protestors at Shaheen Bagh

Even as the deadly coronavirus spreads across the country, the anti-India ‘protestors’ at Shaheen Bagh refuse to vacate the place claiming that they are not afraid of the Coronavirus as the protest was a ‘call from Allah”, reports Times Now.

According to the reports, the protestors at Shaheen Bagh are not ready to evict the protest site despite the COVID-19 outbreak.

As reporters from Times Now spoke to protestors, one of the lady protestors claimed that it was a ‘call from Allah’ to protest at Shaheen Bagh and she is not afraid of the global epidemic of Coronavirus.

“This is the call from Allah. If the government is so concerned about us, they should first withdraw the law. We are respectfully following the diktat of Arvind Kejriwal who had asked us to comply with the ban on gatherings of over 50 people,” said a lady ‘protestor’.

The lady further claimed that the Modi government is afraid of them and stated that the recent directives by the government to restrict gatherings at Shaheen Bagh was a trick to weaken their ‘movement’. “We do not fear Coronavirus,” said the burqa-clad lady.

As the reporter said there is a risk of the virus being contracted to each protestor due to such mass gathering, the lady protestor went on to note that the risk of them being infected with the virus will exist even at their homes and added that there was no question of vacating the protest site at any cost.

Another burqa-clad protestor echoed the similar statements as her colleague at Shaheen Bagh, stated that they are following the diktat given by Arvind Kejriwal as they are protesting in batches of less than 50 persons at a given time.

Recently, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal had invoked the Epidemic Diseases Act of 1897 and declared a new set of restrictions to limit the spread of the highly contagious disease.

In order to flout the diktat, the Muslim protestors gathered there in smaller groups and have now decided that they would not end the protest, but spilt themselves into groups of 50 and take precautions by sitting at a certain distance.

In an act recklessness and disregard of the government appeal to avoid large gatherings and crowded places, the Shaheen Bagh protestors have been continuing with their so-called protests at a time the pandemic has shut down the world. The ‘protestors’ have apparently been praying and reading the Quran at the protest site, believing that praying to Allah would safeguard them from the coronavirus crisis.

Read: How the century-old Islamic evangelical event which originated in India spread coronavirus in South East Asia

For about three months now, the anti-Indian protesters in Shaheen Bagh have blocked one of the busiest thoroughfares in the national capital in protest against the enactment of the Citizenship Amendment Act. In addition, there have been allegations that the protesters at Shaheen Bagh are treating it as an independent enclave, with strict regulations enforced in allowing on who joins them in their protest based on their ideological inclinations.

Modi govt has taken care of Indian citizens as a father would: Thane man shares how his daughter was evacuated from Italy

OpIndia Staff
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Modi govt has taken care of Indian citizens as a father would: Thane man shares how his daughter was evacuated from Italy

The preparations of the Indian government to combat the coronavirus epidemic and its efforts to bring its own citizens from affected countries are being applauded internationally. Hundreds of Indian citizens have been evacuated from abroad. The father of a woman evacuated from Italy has shared his sentiments on social media. He has stated that he has been critical of the Modi government in the past but now he realises that it has been looking after Indians like a parent.

Times of India journalist Rohan Dua has shared the letter of the father of a woman who returned from Italy. In this letter, Thane resident Sujay Kadam has thanked the Indian embassy, Government of India and especially Narendra Modi. According to the father, his daughter went to Milan for higher studies. When the situation deteriorated she was asked to return to India. As her college was closed and she was running out of food stocks she tried to return to India.

As per the father’s note, his daughter was asked to furnish a certificate from the Indian embassy by the Italian authorities. Her father tried to contact Indian Embassy himself but couldn’t succeed because of the closure of the embassy’s office in Milan. But the father collected the email ids of some embassy staffers from their website and shot an email at 8.30 am IST on 12 March. To his astonishment, he got a phone call from his daughter on the same day, informing that she has been contacted by embassy staff and she will be on a flight back to India on the very next day.

Kadam has further informed that his daughter arrived in India on 15 March and has been quarantined at the ITPB hospital where food, stay and medicines are all free of cost and the care facilities are good. Kadam has expressed his gratitude to PM Modi, the government of India, the embassy staff and personnel at the ITPB facility in Delhi for ensuring his daughter’s safety.

Meanwhile, Italy is among the worst affected countries by the coronavirus. It is reporting hundreds of deaths every day and so far over 2500 people have died from the disease. Over 31,000 are infected.

Indian government’s efforts are now being praised internationally too. In a recent viral video on social media, a person who had returned from abroad had shared visuals of the quarantine facility set up at a location 70 km away from Delhi. The video shows that the building is being constantly sanitized. High-level officials are deployed are available on the occasions. They are kept under 24-hour supervision. Also, the government has made very good arrangements where they are kept. Everyone has got separate rooms. The video showed a clean, well-maintained facility where quarantined persons are provided separate rooms, fresh sheets, towels, drinking water, good quality food, slippers, and many other amenities.

Calcutta High Court sets aside union govt’s “Leave India” notice issued to Polish student for participating in anti-CAA protest

OpIndia Staff
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Calcutta High Court sets aside union govt’s “Leave India” notice issued to Polish student for participating in anti-CAA protest

The Calcutta High Court has set aside the “Leave India” notice issued to a Polish student in Jadavpur University in Kolkata after he had participated in anti-CAA protests. Earlier on March 6, the court had stayed the order issued by the Foreigners’ Regional Registration Office in Kolkata.

Justice Sabyasachi Bhattacharyya of the Calcutta High Court ordered the union government not to implement the notice served to Kamil Siedczynski, the student from Poland who is enrolled into a Masters Degree at the Department of Comparative Literature at Jadavpur University.

The student was issued the Leave India notice by the Foreigners’ Regional Registration Office in Kolkata after he was found to be participating in anti-CAA protests. The notice dated 14 had asked Kamil Siedczynski to leave India for alleged conduct deemed inappropriate for a foreign national staying in India on a student visa, within 14 days of receiving the notice. He had received the same on February 24th, hence he was to leave India by March 9th.

Kamil had requested the FRRO to reconsider its decision, and promised that he would not get involved in any such protests in future. He had said that he was not involved in politics in India, and he had joined the protests out of curiosity. But after his request was declined, the Polish student had approached the Calcutta High Court praying for a restraining order on the FRRO notice. Kamil Siedczynski’s lawyer Jayanta Mitra had told the court that on December 19, 2019, he was persuaded to accompany other students of the Jadavpur University to an event in the New Market area of Kolkata. Mitra claimed that Kamil attended the event unwittingly and out of curiosity, which turned out to be a protest against the CAA.

The centre had told the court that being a student visa holder, a foreigner cannot challenge a law passed by the Indian parliament. Central government lawyer Phiroze Edulji had said that a foreigner cannot challenge Article 19 of the Constitution, as it was not applicable to him. The court was also informed that the notice was issued after a field report.

Read: IIT-Madras German student’s visa cancelled after he was asked to leave India for participating in anti-CAA protests

While he was at the protest venue, a journalist from a Bengali daily had clicked his photographs and asked him a few questions, and his photo with some related news was subsequently published.

In his petition, Kamil Siedczynski had stated that he has requested for reconsideration of the notice since he has only four months left to complete his Master’s Degree and also, he “expressed remorse stating he had learnt a lot from his mistake and he undertook not to repeat the mistake”.

On March 5, the court had stayed the notice, asking the govt not to give it effect till March 18, when the court was scheduled to deliver its verdict. And accordingly, the court today revoked the order issued by the FRRO and said that the Polish student will stay in India.

276 Indians infected with coronavirus abroad

OpIndia Staff
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276 Indians infected with coronavirus abroad

In a written reply to the Lok Sabha the Minister of External Affairs informed that 276 Indians are infected with the COVID-19 coronavirus abroad.

Of these, 255 Indians are infected in Iran followed by 12 in the UAE and 5 in Italy. 1 Indian citizen has been infected with the virus in Hong Kong, Kuwait, Rwanda and Sri Lanka each. As per the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, as of 9 AM on 18th March 2020, 144 people have tested positive in India of which 130 are active cases and 14 have been cured and discharged. This includes 25 foreign nationals. Three people have died of the virus in India.

Kashi Vishwanath Temple: SC issues notice to UP government on a petition challenging govt taking over management of the temple

OpIndia Staff
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Kashi Vishwanath Temple: SC issues notice to UP government on a petition challenging govt taking over management of the temple

The apex court today has sent a notice to the Uttar Pradesh government in connection with a plea filed by Lingiya Brahmin family seeking reinstatement of daily religious affairs of the Kashi Vishwanath Temple in Varanasi to them. The family has claimed that it has been handling the temple management before the commencement of Kashi Vishwanath Temple Act 1983.

A Bench headed by Chief Justice of India SA Bobde issued a notice to the Uttar Pradesh seeking its response over the petition.

Appearing for the family, former Bombay HC judge B H Marlapalle cited the 2014 SC judgment in Subramanian Swamy vs The state of Tamil Nadu case which held that a law passed to take over the administration and management of religious endowment is co-terminus of removal of the consequence of alleged maladministration.

The plea filed by the Brahmin family read that before the promulgation of the Act and the preceding Ordinance 20 of 1983, the ancestors of/and the petitioners had “Poornaadhikar”(complete right) of conducting Seva, Puja, Raj Bhog, and other religious affairs of the deity and controlled and managed the temple and other endowments of the deity.

“It is well documented that the petitioner and their ancestors had absolute and exclusive right to administer and manner the day to day affairs of the temple and had continued since time immemorial, which could be proven by several historical narratives, scriptures, etc. Though, it was questioned by many in the past, their right to have “Poornaadhikar” had been judicially attested by several judicial verdicts,” the plea said.

The petition further sought orders for repealing the Kashi Vishwanath Temple Act, 1983, claiming that it has run out of the course and outlived it’s utility, asking to reinstate the administration, management and conduct of religious affairs as existed prior to UP Ordinance no 20 of 1983, which was later substituted by the UP Shri Kashi Vishwanath Temple Act, 1983 on October 28, 1983.

Coronavirus: Punjab govt unable to trace 167 people who returned from abroad for coronavirus tests due to improper address records

OpIndia Staff
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Coronavirus: Punjab govt unable to trace 167 people who returned from abroad for coronavirus tests due to improper address records

Around 167 people who are suspected of being infected from COVID-19 novel coronavirus has been missing in Ludhiana, while only 29 have been traced, says Dr Rajesh Bagga, the city’s civil surgeon.

He added, “Two teams have been tasked to find the people coming from abroad, in which police have been given responsibility for finding 119 people. They have found 12 people so far and the other team is from the health department, in which they were given the responsibility to find 77 people. 17 people have been traced by the health department team while rest of 167 people are still missing.”

In a bid to curb out the suspected infections, medical officials in Punjab received a list of people who returned to India and have been tracking down people on the basis of the list.

One of the major reasons that the officials aren’t being able to trace them is their wrong address and phone number that is mentioned in the passport. “Our teams are active and searching for them. They’ll be traced soon,” said the City’s Civil Surgeon.

Sanitization measures have been taking place at Ludhiana Railway station as a precautionary step to contain the spread of COVID-19.

Recently, in another incident of missing suspected cases, 353 passengers having a travel history from the coronavirus hit countries went untraceable as confirmed by the Department of Health and family welfare of Punjab on Saturday. The department noted that 6,692 people from Punjab were identified to have a travel history to coronavirus affected countries out of which 6,011 were traced, while 353 were missing.

An Irish national who was suspected to be infected by the coronavirus had absconded from SCB Medical College and Hospital in Odisha’s Cuttack was later found in a private hotel in Bhuvaneshwar. Reportedly, he had a high fever when he landed in Bhubaneswar International Airport and was immediately taken to the hospital for a mandatory thermal scanner screening after officials suspected him of carrying the virus. He was taken to the SCB from where he had gone missing. Later, the hospital lodged a case against the Irish national at the local Mangalapur police station.

Tamil Nadu: Islamist organisation which had protested against Ayodhya verdict defies High Court order, continue protests amidst coronavirus outbreak

OpIndia Staff
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Tamil Nadu: Islamist organisation which had protested against Ayodhya verdict defies High Court order, continue protests amidst coronavirus outbreak

Even as the tally of those affected by coronavirus surges across India, members of Islamist organisation-Tamil Nadu Thowheed Jamath continue to stage protest against the CAA, NRC and NPR in contravention to the High Court order. The demonstrations have been organised near the Madras High Court in Chennai.

Even as the country is battling the pandemic of coronavirus, with the number of cases steadily on the rise, a raft of Tamil Nadu Thowheed Jamath members along with other demonstrators gathered to mark their protest, defying the order against mass gathering and brazenly undermining the government’s efforts to limit the spread of coronavirus.

Earlier, the Tamil Nadu Thowheed Jamath group had carried out a protest march against the Supreme Court verdict in the long-standing Ayodhya dispute. Condemning the judgment that granted the Hindu side to build a temple at the Ram Janmabhoomi site, more than 2000 members of Thowheed group hit the streets of Chennai carrying placards and shouting slogans against the apex court’s verdict.

Thowheed group’s flagrant disregard of the public health safety amidst the looming coronavirus outbreak mirrors the blatant transgression of the orders banning public gathering by ‘protesters’ at Shaheen Bagh who have refused to follow the containment orders and decided not to curl off their protest. 

Exhibiting low regards for the public health system, ‘protesters’ at Shaheen Bagh, who have taken it as an ego tussle, are in no mood to relinquish their protest even as stringent lockdown is being observed in several cities across the country in the wake of threat from the novel coronavirus.

So far, Indian authorities have succeeded in curbing the community transmission of the deadly virus. However, a protest site like Shaheen Bagh and Thowheed protest in Chennai with hundreds of so-called protesters demonstrating against the CAA, offers a conducive environment for the virus to proliferate and multiply, resulting in a sudden explosion of the contagion as witnessed in Italy and Spain. However, the Islamist ‘protesters’ are inconsiderate of the dire implications that their protest poses even as they continue to cock a snook at the government.

China expels US journalists from controversial Wall Street Journal, New York Times and Washington Post from the country

OpIndia Staff
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China expels US journalists from controversial Wall Street Journal, New York Times and Washington Post from the country

In a major development, China has revoked the credentials of three US journalists who work at The New York Times, Wall Street Journal and Washington Post, allegedly as an act of retaliation after US President Donald Trump called coronavirus the ‘Chinese virus’. 

The escalation of a media war between the United States and China in the midst of a global pandemic has resulted in US journalists belonging to controversial media outlets being expelled from China. The journalists will not be permitted to work in Hong Kong or Macao.

Reportedly, the escalation started after President Trump tweeted on Monday referring to COVID-19 as ‘Chinese Virus’ in a direct attack on China for the spread of the global pandemic. “The United States will be powerfully supporting those industries, like Airlines and others, that are particularly affected by the Chinese Virus. We will be stronger than ever before,” tweeted US President Donald Trump.

Donald Trump had also barred five Chinese journalists from working in the US earlier this year.

However, the Chinese establishment who seems to have got angered by the direct remarks of the US President Trump has now retaliated by banning the journalists belonging to three controversial US media outlets.

China has demanded that journalists of US citizenship working with the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal and the Washington Post whose press credentials are due to expire before the end of 2020 notify the Department of Information of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs within four calendar days starting from today and hand back their press cards within ten calendar days.

“They will not be allowed to continue working as journalists in the People’s Republic of China, including its Hong Kong and Macao Special Administrative Regions,” read the statement released by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the People’s Republic of China on Tuesday.

In response to the discriminatory restrictions, China will also take reciprocal measures against American journalists. Earlier, the US has imposed on Chinese journalists with regard to visa, administrative review and reporting.

“What the US has done is exclusively targeting Chinese media organizations, and hence driven by a Cold War mentality and ideological bias,” a Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesperson said.

The Chinese Foreign Ministry claimed that the US has seriously tarnished the reputation and image of Chinese media organizations, seriously affected their normal operation in the US. Further, the Foreign Office stated that the ban had seriously disrupted people-to-people and cultural exchanges between the two countries. It has therefore exposed the hypocrisy of the self-styled advocate of press freedom, it added.

China also urged the United States to swiftly change its course and “undo the damage.” 

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