A court in Pakistan has overturned the death sentence and murder conviction of a British-born terrorist for the murder of Daniel Pearl, the South Asia Chief of the Wall Street Journal, in 2002. A lawyer for the militant, Ahmed Omar Saeed Sheikh, said that his sentence was reduced to seven years on the charge of kidnapping. Pearl was kidnapped and later beheaded in Karachi eighteen years ago.
Three other men who were handed over life sentences in the case have been acquitted by the Sindh High Court and released. The High Court overturned the verdict of an anti-terrorism court. Sheikh, a British terrorist of Pakistani origin, was one of the terrorists freed by India along with Masood Azhar in 1999 to secure the release of passengers of hijacked Indian Airlines flight IC-814.
The verdict was delivered by a two-judge bench headed by Justice Mohammad Karim Khan Agha on the appeals filed by the convicts eighteen years ago. Sheikh’s seven-year jail term will be counted from the time he has spent in jail. He has been in prison for the past eighteen years. The lawyers for the accused argued that the prosecution had thoroughly failed to prove their case and claimed that most of the witnesses were policemen, whose testimonies could not be relied upon. Sheikh is now expected to be released from prison.
A group of US journalists had said in 2011 that they believed Sheikh was not guilty. The Pear Project claims that the murder was carried out by Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, currently lodged in the Guantanamo Bay, accused of involvement in the 9/11 terror attacks in the US.
The Tablighi Jamaat members who were evacuated from the Nizamuddin Markaz on 1 April 2020 are refusing to getting themselves tested and saying that they need not be admitted in the hospital.
Many of them (attendees of Tablighi Jamaat event) are objecting against testing & feel that they do not need admission. So, this put security of our staff at risk. Now, police have been deployed around three blocks where they have been kept: LNJPN Hospital Director Kishore Singh https://t.co/aE4OeIFQam
Speaking to news agency ANI, LNJP Hospital Director Kishore Singh said that many of the Tablighi Jamaatis are putting the security of doctors and other staff at risk by objecting to getting tested. Hence, the police has been deployed around three blocks where they are kept.
On Wednesday, there were reports of the Tablighi Jamaat attendees spitting on doctors and other medical staff at the hospital they were kept. The Tablighi Jamaat members who were shifted to quarantine facilities in Delhi after exhibiting symptoms of Covid-19 behaved in an unruly manner with the facility staff and doctors. The occupants made unreasonable demands for food, misbehaved and abused staff members and started spitting all over and on persons working/attending them, including doctors. They also started roaming around the hostel building.
It is pertinent to note that these Tablighi Jamaat members were on 31 March seen spitting out on roads when they were being transported to quarantine facilities for their treatment.
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 reports, over one-third of all COVID-19 positive cases in India could be traced to the Tablighi Jamaat.
I was living in a dormitory on campus at the University of Illinois when the swine flu pandemic hit the United States back in 2009-2010. A pandemic that was pushing the world into chaos, the swine flu had an estimated 1.4 billion confirmed cases globally. As college students, we wanted updates frequently. At that time, we did use social media but were more dependent on traditional media sources for the latest information. Today, the world is affected by the coronavirus pandemic. And today, the means used to consume news are vastly different than college.
Today, Twitter and WhatsApp are used heavily by all ages. Instagram is a major medium among younger citizens. Put together, all of these platforms are global and effective. News, audio clips and videos can reach anywhere in seconds. While this technology is great, digital platforms are a double-edged sword. The other edge is fake news. India saw the true impact of fake news in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections. Misinformation and fake news was an organized industry on a national scale; fake videos and images were used frequently for mass deception.
Once fake news enters a society, it cannot be eliminated. In India, media also currently has little or no regulation. In the case of coronavirus, fake news and fear-mongering infected India way before the virus did. Headlines were sensationalized. The content was as well. The problem was that this content unanimously poured out consistently and missed two things that the Indian public really needed to know. First, there was virtually no content detailing confirmed best practices. Second, articles did not focus on the importance of not panicking.
The troubling part is that over the past couple of months, coverage on the coronavirus pandemic continues to degrade. Even the Supreme Court of India and the Press Council of India had to step in and issue advisories to the media.
The Supreme Court stated, “The migration of large number of labourers working in cities was triggered by panic created by fake news that the lockdown would continue for more than three months. Such panic driven migration has caused untold suffering to those that believed and acted on such news. In fact some have lost their lives in the process. It is, therefore, not possible for us to overlook this menace of fake news…”
The Press Council of India urged “media to responsibl[y] ensure dissemination of verified news on coronavirus outbreak, based on the daily bulletin by the government following the Supreme Court’s directive on the issue.”
Despite this, most major publications are more vested in anti-Modi narratives and fear-mongering versus giving people objective information. All of this to make a quick buck or to get more hits online. Influencers are doing the same. Here are a few examples.
In a BBC interview, Dr. Ramanan Laxminarayan confidently said that India would be looking at 300 million deaths with coronavirus. Indians hearts skipped a beat upon hearing this. But the problem was, to get to this conclusion, Dr. Laxminarayan incorrectly applied a mathematical model that did not consider India-centric factors like cultural greetings and population density.
The Quint published a fear-mongering article on March 28, 2020. The headline read that India could have already reached Stage Three of the pandemic. Not only did the headline create fear in millions of readers, but the content also did. There was no official announcement of India reaching stage three. To add to that, the article quoted one Dr. Girdhar Gyani. Dr. Gyani falsely stated that India is in the most critical stage of the coronavirus pandemic. Upon further research, it was found that Dr. Gyani, who was quoted by The Quint, is not a health expert. Nor is he a medical doctor. Upon looking at his LinkedIn, Dr. Gyani holds a doctorate in engineering. What logic did The Quint use to think Dr. Gyani is an informed, credible authority on the coronavirus pandemic?!
Unsurprisingly, NDTV continued creating anti-government and fear-mongering narratives as it did with CAA coverage and the Delhi Riots. But this time, the media platform got caught red-handed. An NDTV article sensationalizing the coronavirus used statistics from a supposed Johns Hopkins study. However, when the article was published, John Hopkins University officially responded that it did not authorize this study. Granted that this study was published and somebody illegally put the John Hopkins University logo on it. But isn’t it the most fundamental part of a journalist’s job to make sure that the research used is credible before publishing an article? The article was quickly pulled down after Johns Hopkins University called NDTV out.
Influencers are also busy publishing anti-Modi narratives. Curiously, these are also the same influencers who unanimously published anti-CAA and anti-government content during the Delhi Riots. Swara Bhaskar and Dhruv Rathee have unsurprisingly praised the AAP party’s actions during the coronavirus pandemic. This is the same ruling party that callously brought thousands of migrant workers together during a national lockdown without social distancing. Kunal Kamra has gone so far to say that PM Modi is using the coronavirus pandemic has a ‘photo opp.’ Really dude?! Kamra has over one million followers.
What is the point being made here? In a democracy, any citizen, that includes these influencers, do not have to publish pro-government content if they do not want to. Free speech is a fundamental right for everyone. But with millions of followers, influencers should absolutely be consistently publishing best practices at the time of a global health pandemic.
What are the consequences of fear-mongering and anti-government narratives? Panic buying where social distancing isn’t maintained. Entire industries like poultry and seafood are suffering on a major scale unnecessarily in India. This is because people are incorrectly convinced that they can contract coronavirus from eating chicken and fish. Citizens believe that having a hot shower gets rid of the coronavirus and thus, they can continue to defy the lockdown. The biggest impact of fake news is the perception that the government of India is not doing enough and is not giving updates. Both of these perceptions are factually incorrect.
It was on January 7, 2020 that the coronavirus was officially recognized. The government of India began both preparedness and response measures on January 8, 2020. The Government of India has been active ever since. Credible national government and health sources have maintained time and time again that best practices are to wash hands frequently with an alcohol-based substance and to maintain social distancing inside and outside of the home. The Ministry of Health and the MEA created phone numbers and email addresses for any queries related to coronavirus. Anyone can call and the response times are fast. The Press Information Bureau live streams press conferences from different ministries every day across its social media platforms. Even these facts were summarily ignored to spread canards by Rajdeep Sardesai simply because he doesn’t politically align with the Prime Minister.
It is just plain pitiful that in the time of a health crisis, media outlets and influencers first choose to peddle fear or anti-Modi content, and then play the victim by claiming that the government is bad at communicating. Doesn’t it occur to them that sensationalizing a health pandemic will only spark fear and paranoia? Don’t they understand that playing politics out of the situation will only increase ill sentiment at a time when the entire nation is struggling under the strict curfew?
Sadly, these media platforms and influencers understand the consequences perfectly well.
To them, this message needs to be delivered.
You may be pro-BJP or pro-Opposition. Your political ideology may differ from that of your fellow citizen. You may be completely non-political. You may be Hindu, Muslim, Christian, Sikh, Buddhist, Jain or Zoroastrian. You may be an atheist. Whatever your identity is, one thing is for absolute certain.
Whether you like it or not, all 130 crore of us are completely dependent on Prime Minister Modi and the Central Government to save India from this pandemic. The coronavirus does not decipher between borders, political ideology nor religion. It is time to listen to our national leadership. It is a time to publish best practices versus sensationalism, fear-mongering and fake narratives. It is a time for influencers to take advantage of their influence and publish and educate on credible best practices. It is a time for all of us to put politics and religion aside. It is a time to come together and defeat this damn virus once and for all. If we don’t, it will certainly defeat all of us.
In a shocking incident, a nurse and ASHA workers have been attacked by Muslim residents in Bengaluru’s Sadiq layout for trying to carry out tests on suspected corona symptomatic patients and also for collecting information of fever and cough from the residents of the locality.
According to the reports, the ASHA workers had visited Sadiq Layout near Tannisandra to collect information on whether there were any patients showing symptoms of fever and cough. This is part of an ongoing exercise launched by the state government to ascertain the number of Corona symptomatic patients in the state to isolate them if they found to be carrying the Chinese virus.
#Breaking | Bengaluru: Locals attack ASHA workers during awareness campaign.
Shockingly, some of the Muslims residents, who were seen wearing Namaz caps attacked the ASHA workers and also tore the report prepared by ASHA workers. The Muslims also asked the fellow residents not to provide any information on their visits to any religious place and their personal information to the authorities
An ASHA workernarrated the spine-chilling ordeal as she revealed that they were heckled and harassed by Muslims residents of Bengaluru’s Sadiq layout for collecting data of people showing symptoms of coronavirus.
ASHA worker breaks down as she recalls ordeal of being gheraoed & heckled by residents of two localities in Bengaluru’s Byatarayanapura while collecting data on #coronavirus. ASHA workers have been tasked with recording names of people showing symptoms of cough, cold etc pic.twitter.com/8Sq4oBhVvR
According to the ASHA worker, the announcement was made from a mosque after which over 100 Muslims gathered and stopped them from carrying on collecting information on suspected corona patients. She demanded immediate action against the mosque authorities for instigating mob on them.
At a time when the authorities across the country are scrambling to identify the Markaz attendees who participated in the congregation in Nizamuddin in mid-March, they have been mercilessly attacked by Muslim mobs. A series of incidents have already been reported in various parts of the country where they have been attacked by mobs for carrying out their duty.
A medical team that had gone to check on a patient with suspected coronavirus symptoms was attacked and pelted with stones in Indore’s Tatpatti Bhakhal yesterday. Reportedly, the gathered mob had viciously attacked the team of health workers and had even thrown stones from nearby rooftops.
As the visiting medical team sought help from the police, the police team was attacked too. The gathered mob even broke down the barricades and used the women among them as human shields when the police tried to take action.
Similarly, a team of health officials in Ahmednagar were beaten up by contacts of Markas attendees on the suspicion that they are collecting information for the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), NPR and NPR.
The health officials were simply involved in- contact tracing, the process of identification of persons who may have come into contact with an infected person and subsequent collection of further information about these contacts.
As per latest reports, police force has been deployed in the area and ASHA workers have been instructed not to force people for information.
The response of Iran, especially by the religious authorities, in handling the Chinese coronavirus crisis in the country has received severe criticism from Iranians. Some blame the country’s Ayatollahs – high-ranking Islamic clerics for not only taking necessary health measures to limit the pandemic but also promoting traditional Islamic medicine, leading to further more deaths.
According to a France 24 report, Qom, one of the holiest cities for Shiite Muslims, is believed to have had the first cluster of coronavirus cases in Iran. The first official coronavirus cases were announced in the city on February 19.
Despite repeated calls by the public officials and medical experts to put the city under quarantine, it was not enforced. The hardline religious leaders of Iran refused to enact safety measures like imposing a lockdown. Shockingly, they resorted to religious ways to fight the crisis, aggravating the spread of Chinese virus that had already ravaged the country.
A video had gone viral on social media in which two clerics were seen disinfecting cars in the streets of Gorgan in northwest Iran. The clerics without wearing any protective gear were seen disinfecting only one side of the cars.
ضدعفونی فقط سمت چپ خودرو چه فایدهای میتونه داشته باشه؟
These acts of recklessness are not the only case in Iran. The interference of extremist religious clerics in fighting the coronavirus crisis in Iran is also believed to be one of the main reasons for such a high number of deaths. Islamic clerics in the country have pushed for the use of traditional Islamic medicine in the treatment of patients with COVID-19.
On March 21, a cleric and staunch advocate of ‘Islamic medicine’, Morteza Kohansal, visited the coronavirus section of a hospital in Anzali in Gilan province, in northern Iran. He is a follower of Ayatollah Tabrizian, the so-called ‘father’ of Islamic medicine in Iran.
During his visit to the hospital, Kohansal is said to have applied “Islamic remedy” to some coronavirus patients. He used an unknown liquid that he called “Prophet’s perfume” under the noses of patients. Images and Videos were also published on social media showing Kohansal standing next to the patients and with doctors and nurses wearing protective equipment. However, the Islamic cleric was seen not wearing any protective equipment himself.
Two days later, the health authorities in Gilan province announced the death of Mohsen Sharif, a young man pictured with Morteza Kohansal in the photos and videos.
Even though there is no evidence that the mysterious liquid called “Prophet’s perfume” was used to ‘cure’ the patients, who died to the Chinese virus, but the general prosecutor of Anzali, Rahman Seyedzadeh, had issued an arrest warrant for Morteza Kohansal.
For many years, religious hardliners in Iran have criticised modern medical science, instead, have claimed of ability to cure any illness through Islamic remedies.
The France 24 report says, another Islamic cleric named Ayatollah Hashem Bathaei-Golpaygani, who is a renowned clergyman and politician in Iran and also a member of the country’s Elite Council had announced during a ceremony on February 22 that he had contracted coronavirus. However, later he stated that he had healed himself by using an Islamic remedy. He was later hospitalised in Qom, on March 14, where he died two days later.
Similarly, on February 25, another controversial Iranian-Iraqi Shia cleric Ayatollah Abbas Tabrizian stoked a controversy by posting 13 tips to avoid contracting coronavirus on his Telegram channel. The advice included brushing one’s hair, eating onion and using a piece of cotton soaked in violet flower oil as a suppository before going to sleep.
Ayatollah Abbas Tabrizian had also caused a stir in January when he had publicly burned a copy of “Harrison’s Principles of Internal Medicine”, which is one of the main resources for modern medical science.
In a quintessential Iranian way, three doctors who had criticised the ayatollah’s actions on social media were each condemned to a suspended sentence of 60 lashes in court for “insults”.
Mohammad Javad Akbarain, a journalist and theologist, explained the source of these “Islamic remedies”. The original recipes for these medicines are ascribed to the Prophet or Shia Imams in some Islamic history books like “Bihar al-Anwar”.
According to Akbaraian, these books reported that the Prophet or Shia Imams cured different illnesses with certain remedies. However, the authenticity of most of these reports is questionable. Religious extremists took these recipes from these books and now present them as Islamic medicine that is capable of curing any illness.
“What we now refer to as “Islamic medicine” has existed for hundreds of years. Before the Islamic Revolution in Iran, some religious people would use these home remedies to cure physical ailments. It was a minor phenomenon,” Akbaraian added.
Akbarnain added that since the Islamic Revolution 40 years ago, the new political regime supported the use of this type of traditional medicine and they channelled money into promoting it.
“That’s what happened in Qom: the authorities blocked suggestions to put the city under quarantine and close the holy shrines in both Qom and the neighbouring city of Mashhad,” the Shia scholar added.
Mohammad Javad Akbarain also explained that there has been political support at the highest order for following practices of Islamic medicine in Iran.
Ayatollah Tabrizian, the father of Islamic medicine in Iran, initially had published a book about Islamic medicine and even began to produce these Islamic remedies. However, at first he was criticised by many Islamic scholars in Qom, who said that his ideas were unfounded, but eventually, he became untouchable after some of the people closest to Ayatollah Khamenei, Iran’s supreme leader, came out in public support of him.
Iran was one of the first reporters of Chinese coronavirus cases in the world. The Islamic republic seems to have contracted the virus directly from China. The Islamic Republic of Iran has 47,593 cases with deaths crossing 3,000 due to Chinese epidemic COVID-19.
Earlier, Islamic believers were seen licking Shia shrines in Qom with their tongue, declaring that the coronavirus cannot harm them. Qom has been the worst affected Iranian city. Thereafter after fake news and rumours were circulated that alcohol can kill the coronavirus in one’s body, over 300 Iranians had died of methanol poisoning when they had consumed toxic alcohol. Before that, 44 Iranians had died in a similar case of poisoning.
India’s far eastern state Arunachal Pradesh has reported its first COVID-19 positive case. As per reports, the patient is from Tezu in Lohith district and has been kept under strict quarantine.
EastMojo has reported that a total of 7 persons in the state were kept in quarantine, six in Namsai and one person in Lohith. Their samples were sent to Assam’s Dibrugarh for testing.
The report states that all the 7 people had travelled from Assam’s Tinsukia to Delhi together in December. They had returned to Lohith, Namsai and Itanagar between March 19 and 20.
During the tracing of the contact history, these people have revealed that they had not taken part in the Tablighi Jamat conference in Delhi’s Banglewali Masjid and were in UP at that time. However, they had stayed at the Nizamuddin Markaz from December 12-14 and on March 14-16, before returning to Arunachal Pradesh.
Another man from Manipur has been found coronavirus positive, taking the state’s tally to 2 active cases. The second patient had also attended the Tablighi Jamaat event in Nizamuddin, Delhi.
Manipur CM N Biren Singh has stated that it is a very sad and very serious development for a small state like Manipur. As per reports, a total of 10 persons and returned to the state after attending the Tablighi Jamaat event in Nizamuddin. Their samples had been sent for testing and 8 had been found negative.
Very sad and alert,In Manipur too one more #COVIDー19 positive case who joined #TablighiJamaat congregation at #NizamuddinMarkaz . Now in Manipur #COVIDー19 positive are two . Some are under quarantine centres for observation. Update 12.33 am /April 2 .
The Tablighi Jamaat congregation had been attended by thousands of people across India, flouting social distancing norms laid down by the government. Dozens of cases across the nations, some from far-flung areas like Andaman and Nicobar Islands, have now been traced to the Tablighi Jamaat event, making it India’s super-spreader’. Assam had gone from 0 to 16 positive cases within one day. All positive cases were Tablighi attendees.
A shocking audio clip from the Nizamuddin Markaz has emerged where the Tablighi Jamaat chief Maulana Saad can be heard mocking the government’s call to close mosques and other religious places in a bid to contain the spread of Chinese coronavirus.
The above audio was recorded at the Nizamuddin Markaz on 23 March, 2020, one day after the Janta Curfew was observed and a day before the country-wide lockdown was announced.
Maulana Saad while instigating Muslims gathered there to defy the lockdown orders says that this is the time to go to mosques. At around 5 minutes into the video, he says, “This is the time to fill the mosques. I have been saying this since beginning that this is the time to fill up the mosques. Do not come into the talks to empty the mosques. In fact, it is the time to increases the mosques.
At around 8 minute into the video, Saad says, “Those who have no faith in Allah, through these schemes and excuses of trying to save Muslims from the disease are trying to keep us away. They have found an excuse to keep Muslims away from coming here. They want to put this fear in the Muslims that those who gather in huge numbers can get infected. The disease will pass but the fear will not. This is a tactic to create fear amongst the Muslims and to end the love and brotherhood Muslims have amongst each other. This is a program created. This program is created against Muslims to make them appear ‘untouchables’. They think this is a good excuse to do this. There is no problem in staying away from those who have caught the infection. But Muslims should not meet Muslims? This is ‘jihalat‘.”
Amidst the sounds of coughing from the congregation, Maulana Saad continues, “This is the time to gather Muslims and come. Try and bring the followers of Allah closer to Allah.”
“This is not the time to leave mosques and disperse. Why did people believe that gathering in group will spread coronavirus? Why did people not believe that if we come together then Allah will send angels and with the help of angels the peace will return to the world,” Maulana Saad, the chief of Tablighi Jamaat in Delhi’s Nizamuddin which has emerged as the latest hot spot for coronavirus infection had said while mocking the government’s calls to close mosques and other religious places to avoid huge gatherings.
At around 41 seconds into the video, Maulana Saad asks the Jamaatis gathered where will they run from death. Death is walking ahead of you. “Allah has kept death ahead of us in Quran. Death is in front of you. You can’t run from it. Hence keep your head cool at such time and listen to Allah,” he says. “If you run away at this time, then Allah will be angry,” Saad said.
He further instigates the Jamaatis to not listen to doctors. At around 3 minutes 30 seconds into the video, Maulana Saad says, “If you start listening to doctors and stop doing the namaaz and stop meeting people… yes, so you are sick, then pray to the 70,000 angels. Why are you not having faith in the angels? How will you be cured by taking medicines from doctor if you cannot be saved by the 70,000 angels? This is not the time to stay away and be afraid.”
The Delhi Police on Wednesday evacuated as many as 2,100 Muslims who were living inside the Nizamuddin Markez, many of whom were foreign nationals. The Islamic preachers had gathered for the three-day event in March. Dozens of coronavirus positive cases across country could be traced to the Tablighi Jamaat. While some have been traced, many are untraceable. Maulana Saad, himself, has been absconding.
At a time when the entire world is virtually waging a war against the deadly Wuhan Coronavirus, which has globally infected more than 8.80 lac people, and the country is under complete lockdown, two families in Uttar Pradesh have named their babies ‘Corona’ and ‘Lockdown’ with a hope that they would remind people about obeying guidelines during the pandemic.
A baby girl born in Gorakhpur on the day of ‘Janta Curfew’ on March 22 has also been named ‘Corona’.
The baby boy ‘Lockdown’ was born at the District Hospital on Tuesday according to reports. The father of the newborn, Pawan Kumar, a resident of Khukhundu village in the Deoria district, said that he had been ”inspired greatly” by the lockdown.
“He was born during the lockdown. We appreciate Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s efforts to enforce lockdown and save the people from Corona pandemic. The lockdown is in the national interest and so we decided to name the child as Lockdown,” said the baby boy’s father Pawan.
Pawan said that he and his family have been observing the lockdown and have even asked their relatives not to visit them until the lockdown is lifted. “We have even postponed the celebrations and rituals for the newborn till the lockdown in force,” he said.
Meanwhile, the baby girl born in Sohgaura village, Gorakhpur on the day of ”Janata Curfew, was named ”Corona” by her uncle. The uncle, Nitesh Tripathi, said that he decided to name the baby after the deadly virus because ”Corona” has unified the world on this issue.
Tripathi said that he had taken permission from the new born’s mother, Ragini Tripathi, before naming the baby. “The virus is no doubt dangerous and it has killed so many people in the world, but it has also inculcated many good habits in us and brought the world closer. This baby will be the symbol of people’s unity to fight the evil,” he said.
A classified report submitted by the US intelligence community to Washington has concluded that China had intentionally concealed the extent of Wuhan coronavirus outbreak, under-reporting the numbers of those who contracted the infection as well as the number of fatalities due to the novel COVID-19, said a report by Bloomberg. The officials, privy to the details of the secret report said that the study on the number of cases reported by China has concluded that the numbers released by Beijing do not correspond to reality.
According to the figures released by China, the total number of coronavirus cases in the country reported was a paltry 82,000 while the total number of deaths in China due to COVID-19 was 3,300. The US intelligence community has juxtaposed the data provided by China with the data of New York coronavirus outbreak which has so far witnessed 1,89,000 cases and 4,000 deaths already. The Intelligence community claim that the disproportionately low numbers of infection and deaths in China, the country where the virus is believed to have originated, indicate that the Communist Party of China has studiously hidden the true count of infections and fatalities in Mainland China.
While analysts believe that China has been more effective than democratic nations in suppressing the spread of the Wuhan coronavirus, attributing the feat to the unfettered centralisation of power enjoyed by the Communist Party of China. However, they too have a sceptical view of the numbers of infections and casualties put forth by China. The Chinese government’s nebulous methodology to ascertain the number of COVID-19 cases has also added to the scepticism. On Tuesday, it added more than 1,500 asymptomatic cases to its total.
The report was received by the White House last week, one of the officials said. According to the report, heaps of thousands of urns outside funeral homes in Hubei province have seeded doubts about China’s real tally of those who have perished from the virus.
As per the State Department immunologist Deborah Birx, who is advising the White House on its response to the outbreak, China’s numbers have played a pivotal role in shaping assumptions about the nature of the virus across the world.
“When the medical community interpreted the data that emerged from China, everybody inferred that this pandemic is serious but the numbers are less than expected,” Birx said at a news conference on Tuesday while adding, ” Perhaps because we were missing a significant amount of the data. Now that the data is coming out from Spain and Italy, we can reasonably assume that Chinese numbers are suspicious.”
China is not the only country whose public reporting is under suspicion. The numbers coming from Iran, Russia, Indonesia and especially North Korea, where not a single case of the disease has been reported are also under the scanner of the western scrutiny. Saudi Arabia, Egypt and other countries may also be widely downplaying their numbers, the western analysts believe.
Railway Minister Piyush Goyal has claimed that the first time in the history of railways not a single passenger lost their lives in the last one year and thereby he is ensuring to be working against the COVID-19 so that no one loses their life due to epidemic.
For the first time in history, not a single passenger lost their life in last twelve months in a railway accident.
Railway Minister Piyush Goyal took to twitter saying “For the first time in history, not a single passenger lost their lives in the last twelve months in a railway accident. Now we are working to make sure no Indian loses their life due to COVID-19.”
In 2019-20, the railways have recorded zero deaths, while the last year 2018-19, the railways recorded 16 deaths. The numbers were 28 in 2017-18 and 195 in 2016-17.
Railway accidents include collision, derailment, fire, level crossing accidents, and other miscellaneous accidents.
The Indian railways are also playing a very valuable role in combatting the deadly contagion called coronavirus which has dragged the world into a severe lockdown, by converting its coaches into isolation wards for the treatment of coronavirus patients. 5,000 railway coaches have been modified to set up isolation facility. Indian Railways is also setting up 3.2 lakh isolation and quarantine beds and 20,000 coaches being modified in the process.
The northern railway workshops have geared up to overcome the deadly epidemic by increasing the manufacturing of equipment and medical facilities. Railways are trying to maintain high-level sanitation to combat the COVID-19 novel coronavirus.
