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Bullets in Bihar, stone-pelting in Gujarat: Police face challenges in locating Tablighi Jamaatis

OpIndia Staff
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Bullets in Bihar, stone-pelting in Gujarat: Police face challenges in locating Tablighi Jamaatis

Police personnel in Madhubani, Bihar, were fired upon when they went to search for Tablighi Jamaat attendees after Delhi’s Nizamuddin emerged as the new hotspot for the deadly Chinese virus. Three people are arrested in this regard. As per Times Now report, stones were pelted and bullets were fired on policemen. In similar incident, police team was attacked in Ahmedabad’s Gomtipur area when the police reached to search for Delhi’s Tablighi Jamaatis.

As per online portal DeshGujarat, the stonepelters were identified and two were detained. The situation is now under control.

In yet another shocking act of deliberate violation of lockdown, a Muslim mob in Gidarganj village in Andharatharhi block of Madhubani district, Bihar not only collected to offer mass prayers (Namaz) but also attacked and pelted stones at the police, who went there to stop them from doing so.

On Tuesday, the police received the information that over 100 Muslims have been staying in a Mosque in the locality. When the police reached the Mosque, locals attacked the police personnel. They started to pelt stones at the policemen. The policemen were chased for almost a kilometre by the unruly mob, who, in the fit of rage, also overturned a police van into a pond. Using this situation to their advantage, the Muslim congregation, who were illegally hiding in the Mosque, managed to flee away.

Though according to eyewitnesses, there was firing from both sides, SP Satyaprakash has negated the claim.

The Islamic religious event was being organised at the mosque located near the house of the RJD block president and former chief of Madna Panchayat located in Andhratharhi Tehsil of Madhubani district, Ojera Khatoon. Allegedly, this mosque, where few Islamic foreigners were also hiding, is maintained by the RJD block president and Madna villages’ former chief.

The police, on receiving information that people have gathered at the mosque located in the Madna village, reached the mosque and urged the Muslims to abide by the lockdown orders and vacate the Mosque. However, the Muslims, not paying any heed to the requests, started arguing with the police and suddenly unleashed themselves on them. The policemen also retaliated in self-defence. One villager and the Circle officer (CO) have reportedly been injured in the ensuing brawl.

According to reports, Gidarganj village in Andharathadhi block of Madhubani district, Bihar is a Muslim dominated locality. Many attackers from the village have reportedly fled after this incident, however, the name of one Mohammad Muswa has emerged as one of the prime suspects. Muswa is allegedly a close aide of the RJD block president and Madna villages’ former chief, Ojera Khatoon.

Moreover, the village is split into two factions, one headed by a person named Wasim and the second one is headed by one Kamrujumma. The faction headed by Wasim had reportedly informed the police that the Muslim mob headed by Kamrujumma are planning to organise the event at the Mosque, following which the police reached the area. According to the gathered information, police believe that the attack was a pre-planned one. The attackers had stocked up stones and bricks on the roof of the buildings in the area and had been waiting to attack the police personnel.

The police have now registered an FIR against these unknown miscreants. All are absconding at the moment but will be arrested soon and sent to jail, confirmed the police, saying that no one will be allowed to violate the lockdown rule.

Despite repeated attempts by the police to dissuade Muslims from marching towards the mosques, many Muslims have been ignoring police’s appeals and have instead been creating a ruckus after police tried to impede them from assembling at mosques in the view of the surging coronavirus cases in the country.

In a similar incident, a Muslim mob, on March 26, not only assembled at a local mosque in Mainpuri, Uttar Pradesh but also attacked the policemen for asking to avoid mass prayers (namaz) in the view of nationwide lockdown due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Recently, the Tablighi Jamaat – a religious event held on March 21 in Delhi’s Nizamuddin area by the Muslim organisation, has turned out to be an epicentre of the Chinese coronavirus transmission in the country. The event has now sparked off a huge scare as most of the attendees have reportedly spread the Chinese virus across the country.

Maulana Saad, head of the Markaz decided to vacate the masjid only after the intervention of NSA Ajit Doval: Reports

OpIndia Staff
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Maulana Saad, head of the Markaz decided to vacate the masjid only after the intervention of NSA Ajit Doval: Reports

It has been reported that Maulana Saad, head of Nizamuddin Markaz and other Muslims living inside the Nizamuddin Dargah did not vacate the virus-infected locality on Delhi police’s request, resulting in Home Minister Amit Shah deploying NSA Ajit Doval.

Citing unnamed top Home Ministry officials, the Hindustan Times report says that NSA Doval reached around 2.00 am on March 28-29 night at the Markaz and convinced Maulana Saad to get the occupants to be tested for the COVID-19 infection and be quarantined.

According to the reports, Maulana Saad, head of Nizamuddin Markaz, had refused to yield to pleas from Delhi Police and security agencies to vacate the Banglewali Masjid. As the controversial imam did not move an inch, NSA Doval had to reach the spot to convince the Muslims to vacate the mosque. Maulana Saad is now absconding and untraceable as per Delhi Police.

Shockingly, Shah and Doval knew about the situation after the security agencies had tracked down the nine test positive Indonesians at Karimnagar, in Telangana, to the March on March 18 itself. The security agencies had sent an alert on the Markaz infection the very next day to all state police and subsidiary offices.

However, no effective action to vacate the Markaz was taken by the Union Home Ministry hinting at the glaring security lapse in the national capital. Now the authorities have initiated a nation-wide hunt to trace all those who had attended the event and others they had come in contact with.

There were 216 foreign nationals in the Markaz in Delhi but there are over 800 more in different parts of the country. Most of them are nationals of Indonesia, Malaysia and Bangladesh. On Tuesday, the Home Ministry has blacklisted these 800 Islamic preachers for violating visa rules by visiting India on a tourist visa and attended the Islamic religious conference organised by the “Tablighi Jamaat”. The preachers were found staying at the Banglewali Masjid, the Mosque near the Hazrat Nizamuddin Dargah in Delhi, earlier this month.

Since January, the Home Ministry has said, about 2,000 foreigners have attended the Markaz congregation. The initial reports indicated almost all of them violated their visa conditions by entering India on visas for tourists, not missionaries. They will be blacklisted from entering the country again.

Meanwhile, the Delhi police have registered FIR against Tablighi Jamaat preacher Maulana Saad and other members of the outfit under section 3 of The Epidemic Diseases Act (1897) for organizing the congregation at the times of severe lockdown amidst the Wuhan coronavirus outbreak.

Coronavirus: Authorities begin a ‘manhunt’ to trace Tablighi Jamaat attendees as Nizamuddin’s Markaz emerges as hotspot for COVID-19, countrywide raids underway

OpIndia Staff
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Coronavirus: Authorities begin a ‘manhunt’ to trace Tablighi Jamaat attendees as Nizamuddin’s Markaz emerges as hotspot for COVID-19, countrywide raids underway

After New Delhi’s Nizamuddin emerged as the latest hotspot after dozens of country-wide COVID-19 positive cases were traced back to the Tablighi Jamaat, the authorities have started a ‘manhunt’ to trace all the attendees who had participated so that they could be quarantined and their contact tracing could be established. Many of the foreign nationals who had attended the event were found ‘hiding’ in mosques at various parts of the country.

The Tablighi Jamat conference was held in March and was attended by over 2,000 delegates, including Islamic preachers from foreign countries. The police swung into action to identify such people who attended the conference and either returned to their native towns or visited other parts of the country after there were reports of the death of nine people – six in Telangana and one each in Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Jammu and Kashmir after attending the Hazrat Nizamuddin event.

As per information, as many as 157 people from 19 districts of the state had attended the event at Nizamuddin between March 13 and 15 and later came in contact with foreign delegates in a conference.

Seven Indonesian nationals and two Indians were traced by Allahabad Police. The Indonesian nationals were found at the Abdullah mosque in Prayagraj. Along with them Indonesian nationals, 28 others who had come in contact with them have also been quarantined, ANI reported.

Earlier in the day, Lucknow Police Commissioner Sujit Pandey had said that 18 residents of Lucknow, who had participated in Nizamuddin Markaz event in Delhi, have not returned back to the city. Addition to that, 24 foreigners who came to Lucknow after participating in the event have been admitted at Balrampur Hospital, he added.

Similarly, ten people who had arrived in Poonch district, Jammu and Kashmir after attending Tablighi Jamaat in Delhi’s Nizamuddin have been identified by District Administration. They all have been kept under quarantine. Shockingly, all the 43 patients who had tested positive for COVID-19 in Andhra Pradesh had contracted the Chinese virus at the event at Delhi’s Nizamuddin Markaz.

In a similar raid, eight Indonesian Muslims were found by the UP police from Jamunwali mosque in Bijnor. They too had visited the Tablighi Jamaat event in Delhi’s Nizamuddin. Similarly, 10 Muslims of foreign nationality were found in a mosque in Ahmednagar, Maharashtra. 

A few days back, eleven foreign Islamic clerics (Maulvis) were nabbed from the Rargaon Mosque in the Tamar area of ​​Ranchi amidst the threat of Chinese coronavirus. Three Maulvis from China, three from Kazakhstan and four others from Kyrgyzstan were hiding in the mosque.

Before that, 12 foreign nationals were found hiding in a mosque in Patna, Bihar. The Muslim belonging to foreign countries had hidden in the Mosque with the help of a few local Muslims. These people were reportedly hiding, fearing medical examination and quarantine amidst the coronavirus outbreak. The incident had created a scare across the country.

Meanwhile, the Delhi government and police have evacuated 2,361 persons from the Nizamuddin Markaz that is believed to have been the epicentre of COVID-19 infections in the country. Several cases of COVID-19 in Delhi as well as in other states have been traced to a congregation held there last month. Many state governments are trying to trace the people who returned after attending the event.

Islamists who organised anti-CAA ‘protests’ stand in solidarity with Tablighi Jamaat super-spreaders, demand FIR be revoked calling it ‘Islamophobia’

OpIndia Staff
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Islamists who organised anti-CAA ‘protests’ stand in solidarity with Tablighi Jamaat super-spreaders, demand FIR be revoked calling it ‘Islamophobia’

As hundreds of cases of COVID-19 with the history of their visit to the congregation organised by Tablighi Jamaat emerge from various parts of the country, sending authorities scrambling to contain the extent of the spread of the contagion, Jamia Coordination Committee and ‘Muslim Students of JNU’- a Facebook page once operated by the mastermind of Shaheen Bagh protest, Sharjeel Imam, have come to defend the Jamaat as it faces the wrath of the authorities for organising a large gathering and providing a breeding ground for the virus to spawn.

The Delhi Police had yesterday registered FIR against Tablighi Jamaat preacher Maulana Saad and other members of the outfit under section 3 of The Epidemic Diseases Act (1897) for organizing the congregation at the times of severe lockdown amidst the Wuhan coronavirus outbreak.

The event which gave rise to the numerous positive cases of coronavirus across states was organized in the mid-march. Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Tuesday claimed that 1,548 people were evacuated from the Markaz Tablighi Jamaat over the past three days. Out of these, 441 people were found with the symptoms of COVID-19 and have been isolated at the hospitals while others are quarantined.

In support of Tablighi Jamaat, the ‘Muslim Students of JNU’ uploaded an image on its Facebook page, expressing solidarity with the Jamaat and demanding cancellation of FIR filed against the Jamaat management. The Facebook page which was once handled by Sharjeel Imam, who advocated the secession of the NE states from India and incited communal passions, also tried to cast the delinquent management of Jamaat as victims by accusing the government of being ‘Islamophobic’ for initiating action against them.

Facebook post uploaded by ‘Muslim Students of JNU’

In addition, the ‘Jamia Coordination Committee’, an unofficial body that was also involved in organising anti-CAA protests in Delhi, also jumped in to defend the criminal acts of Tablighi Jamaat. The Committee took to Twitter to release a detailed statement, voicing their disapproval against the action initiated against the fundamentalist group. Defending the Muslim clerics of Jamaat who were found spitting out on roads while they were being transported to the treatment centres, the JCC ascribed the punitive measures taken against them to “bigotry and Islamophobic fantasies of the government”.

In the press note released by the JCC, the group passes the buck for the prolong and cramped stay of Muslim clerics in Nizamuddin to the central and Delhi state government, stating that the call for a lockdown by the government diminished the chances of these visitors availing transport for their journey back home.

Read: Anti-Hindu Delhi Riots: Jamia Coordination Committee’s extensive campaign in riot-affected areas and Sharjeel Imam’s possible link

Defending the congregation and their subsequent stay at Markas Nizamuddin, the statement read, “Suddenly on the evening of 23rd March, a further nationwide lockdown was announced by the Honourable Prime Minister with an explicit message for people to stay-put wherever they are. Under such compelling circumstances, there was no option for Markas Nizamuddin but to accommodate the stranded visitors with prescribed medical precautions till such time that situation becomes conducive for their movement or arrangement are made by the authorities.”

JCC went on to vindicate Markas of any wrongdoing, claiming that “Markas never violated any provision of law, and always tried to act with compassion and reason towards visitors who came to Delhi from different states. It did not let them violate any medical guidelines by thronging ISBTs or roaming on the streets.”

However, JCC’s statement doesn’t explain why the Muslim clerics in Jamaat who exhibited symptoms of COVID-19 deliberately spit out on roads, thereby aggravating the threat of coronavirus in the national capital. The JCC has also failed to elaborate that if the Muslim evangelists who visited the Markas Nizamuddin were diligently abiding by the medical precautions and government advisories, why some of them have been found hiding in mosques across several states, instead of undertaking self-quarantine?

Though the nation-wide lockdown came on 24 March, the Delhi government had already banned the gathering of more than 50 persons at one place back on 16 March. Before that, it had prohibited all sports gatherings, including IPL matches, as well as conferences and seminars having 200 or more people back on 13 March.

This is a typical modus operandi used by Islamist organisations. When their co-religionists are called out for their patently criminal and catastrophic activities, they quickly rush to their defence by accusing the dispensation of exhibiting anti-Muslim bigotry and painting the transgressors as victims to garner sympathy. By employing this two-pronged approach, such organisations try to extenuate the culprits by engendering a sympathy wave for them while reinforcing their propaganda.

Within months of exporting Wuhan Coronavirus, China reopens wet markets selling bats, dogs, cats

OpIndia Staff
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Within months of exporting Wuhan Coronavirus, China reopens wet markets selling bats, dogs, cats

The notorious ‘wet markets’ of China, which are the epicentres of the Chinese Coronavirus from where the deadly pandemic was exported to the rest of the world, have reopened selling bats pangolins and dogs for human consumption, reports Times of India. Generally, wet markets refer to the markets that sale fresh meat, fish etc, but in China these markets are known to sale meat of wild animals, which are known source of several deadly pathogens like the Wuhan Coronavirus.

The reopening of these dangerous wet markets has once again caused a scare across the world as scientists believe that the coronavirus causing COVID-19 was present inside a bat in China from that it and transferred into another animal, before getting passed on to humans.

The scientific reports suggest that a 55-year-old woman from China’s Hubei province may have been the first person to have contracted COVID-19 through one such wet market. Huanan Seafood Market in China’s Wuhan is believed to be the epicentre of coronavirus, which swept the world, engulfing lakhs as far as the United States and killing nearly 42,000 people.

“The markets have gone back to operating in exactly the same way as they did before coronavirus,” reported a correspondent of ‘A Mail on Sunday’.

However, the Chinese authorities have increased security at these wet markets to ensure that no one is able to take pictures of the blood-soaked floors, slaughtering of dogs and rabbits, and scared animals cramped in cages.

The World Health Organisation had said in a statement on January 12 had also stated that there was evidence to suggest that the outbreak is associated with exposures in one seafood market in Wuhan.

Four months on, the Chinese pandemic seems to be far from over even as Beijing celebrates victory over coronavirus with no vaccination insight for the pathogen, which many people worldwide call Wuhan virus or Chinese virus.

“Everyone here believes the outbreak is over and there’s nothing to worry about anymore. It’s just a foreign problem now as far as they are concerned,” a China-based correspondent was quoted by Washington Examiner.

According to Daily Mail report, the reopening of wet markets is China is a kind of “celebrating its victory” on coronavirus. Further, despite responsible for thousands of deaths, China has made no efforts to increase the hygiene standards to prevent a similar outbreak in the future. The report claims that many in China now believe that the pandemic is now over domestically and are going back to patronising the wet markets.

At present, the Chinese wet markets are selling caged dogs, cats, rabbits and ducks as meat. Also being sold were wild animals like bats, scorpions and lizards, which are used as traditional medicines in China.

The Chinese epidemic COVID-19 has now engulfed almost the entire world has killed more than 42,000 people across the world. More than 8.8 lakhs have been tested positive after coming in contact with Chinese virus COVID-19.

The United States of America leads the tally with 188,578 active cases and 3,890 deaths. Italy has seen the highest number of deaths with 12,428 succumbing to the Chinese virus out of the 105,792 affected. Interestingly, China which is the epicentre, according to its official figures, has only lost 3,305 people to the deadly pandemic.

To whitewash Tablighi Jamaat’s deeds, Founder-Editor of The Wire spreads fake news about Yogi Adityanath

OpIndia Staff
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To whitewash Tablighi Jamaat’s deeds, Founder-Editor of The Wire spreads fake news about Yogi Adityanath

No sooner did the news of Tablighi Jamaat in New Delhi’s Nizamuddin emerged as the newest hostpot for coronavirus outbreak, the ‘liberals’ huddled up to absolve the congregation of defying orders and putting public health and safety at risk.

Siddharth Varadarajan’s tweet after Tablighi Jamaat emerged as hotspot

At 12:45 AM on 31 March 2020, The Wire Founder-Editor Siddharth Varadarajan tweeted a link claiming that the Nehru Stadium in Delhi will be converted into quarantine facility. While sharing it, Varadarajan attributed a quote to Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath. Varadarjan claimed that on the day Tablighi Jamaat event was being held, “Adityanath insisted a large Ram Navami fair planned for Ayodhya from March 25 to April 2 would proceed as usual and that ‘Lord Ram would protect devotees from the coronavirus”.

The Wire’s report has very explicitly attributed the quote to Yogi Adityanath.

The Wire attributing a quote to Yogi Adityanath.

Netizens took to Twitter to call out the lies of Varadarajan where he not only makes sweeping statements and misattributes statements to UP CM but also gives a clean chit to Tablighi Jamaat.

Swarajya Magazine journalist Arush Tandon in a series of tweets pointed out how Varadarajan blatantly lied.

Tandon says that he Googled the exact phrase used by Varadarajan to see reports where Yogi Adityanath had made such a statement.

Google search results of the phrase.

As we can see, the first few search results don’t show that the statement was given by Yogi Adityanath. However, the Deccan Herald report does mention similar phrase which is the third search result.

Deccan Herald report from March 17

To check the source of The Wire’s attribution to Yogi Adityanath, OpIndia clicked on the article hyperlinked in the original article. It led to an 18 March 2020 article from The Wire, where it had credited Deccan Herald for the same quote.

The Wire crediting the quote to Deccan Herald in its 18 March 2020 report

As it can be seen, The Wire in its original article, was at least honest in attributing the quote to one Mahant Paramhans and not to Yogi Adityanath. Now, here it is imperative to note that as on March 20, 2020, the Ayodhya Mela stood cancelled. Tablighi Jamaat was held on 21st March 2020 even after precautionary measures were taken across the country to limit huge gatherings and practice social distancing.

However, there is more to this.

Who is Mahant Paramhans whose words are being taken at facevalue by the propagandists? On November 17, 2019 Paramhans Das, disciple of Mahant Sarveshwar Das, head of Tapasvi Ki Chhavni, was expelled from the organisation for allegedly making objectionable comments against Ram Janmabhoomi Nyas chief Mahant Nritya Gopal Das. Das, whose original name was Uday Narain Das, was a self-proclaimed mahant and ‘jagatguru’ and had never discharged his duties as a saint. 

So, essentially, the Founder-Editor of The Wire took quotes of an expelled mahant and misattributed them to Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath to whitewash the Tablighi Jamaat superspreaders.

The Uttar Pradesh government has now swung into action and has asked Varadarajan to delete his tweet wrongly attributing a quote to UP CM or he the government will initiate action.

“Delete the tweet or we will initiate action including defamation case. Along with asking for donation to run the website, you will also have to ask for money to fight the case,” Mrityunjay Kumar, UP CM’s Media Advisor tweeted.

The Tablighi Jamaat has emerged as the latest hotspot after dozens of COVID-19 positive cases were traced back to Nizamuddin in Delhi where hundreds of Muslims had gathered on 21 March 2020 for three-day Islamic evangelical event. As of 1st April, 2100 Muslims were evacuated from the building in Nizamuddin and sent to isolation ward. Investigation is currently underway and efforts are being made to trace those who had attended as well as those who had come in contact with them.

Tablighi Jamaat committed a ‘Talibani crime’, their sin is unpardonable: Union Minister Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi

OpIndia Staff
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Tablighi Jamaat committed a ‘Talibani crime’, their sin is unpardonable: Union Minister Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi

Launching a scathing attack on the Tablighi Jamaat for emerging as a hotspot for spreading the Chinese coronavirus in the country, Union Minister and BJP leader Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi on Wednesday said Tablighi Jamaat had committed a “Talibani crime” by holding a religious gathering in middle of pandemic.

Union Minister Naqvi called the crime committed by the Islamic organisation an “unpardonable sin” after the event organised by the Jamaat resulted in spreading coronavirus to hundreds of the people across the country.

“When the entire country is fighting against corona, such a “sin” is unpardonable,” Naqvi tweeted. Speaking to Times of India, he said that when the whole country is struggling to combat the Chinese coronavirus, Tablighi Jamaat letting so many people gather together under one roof, especially people from foreign country, is “unacceptable”. He even pointed out that the Jamaat should’ve taken a cue from the Mecca and Madina where people are not being allowed to congregate since a while now.

The Tablighi Jamaat – a religious event held On March 21 in Delhi’s Nizamuddin area by the Muslim organisation, has turned out to be an epicentre of the Chinese coronavirus transmission in the country. The event has now sparked off a huge scare as most of the attendees have reportedly spread the Chinese virus across the country.

According to the Union Home Ministry, as 2100 foreigners, out of which around 1530 hailed from India and rest from the foreign countries, visited India for Tablighi activities since January 1 and all of them first reported at its headquarters in Nizamuddin in the national capital.

The Home Ministry said the Muslims who had taken part in the event later returned to their homes in virtually every state. Many of these states, which have reported COVID-19 cases are linked to the Tablighi Jamaat.

‘The killer coronavirus probably originated from a laboratory in Wuhan’, claims research paper published by Chinese scientists

OpIndia Staff
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‘The killer coronavirus probably originated from a laboratory in Wuhan’, claims research paper published by Chinese scientists

As the world is debating on the culpability of China over the spread of Chinese virus COVID-19, a paper published by Chinese scientists suggests that the virus ‘probably’ originated from a laboratory in Wuhan, China. On Tuesday, American journalist Tucker Carlson aired a report on his talk show publishing the findings of the report asserting that the Chinese coronavirus most likely originated in a Wuhan laboratory.

Citing a report from Botao Xiao and Lei Xiao of the South China University of Technology discussing the origins of the Wuhan Coronavirus, Tucker Carlson brought attention to a raging debate that has been happening across the world lately on the possibility of COVID-19 being a human-made virus that got accidentally leaked from a laboratory in Wuhan.

Carlson went on to cite the paper, as he conceded that he could not independently confirm, noting that the information was at least worthy of consideration. The Fox News Anchor said, “On February 6th, scientists from the South China University of Technology uploaded a paper on the origins of coronavirus. Where did it come from? Well, this offers some clue. At the time the official death toll in China from the coronavirus was 564. The paper made a number of notable observations and claims that are worth knowing about and that’s why we are telling you. We want to be clear that we aren’t endorsing any of these conclusions, we haven’t independently confirmed them. We can’t.”

The report detailed the tracing of COVID-19 to the intermediate host Horseshoe bat, a bat that they confirmed was not available at the Wuhan wet market and did not live locally. In fact, the report noted that native populations were no closer than 900kms away from the first known cases, making a natural transmission from bat to human appear more unlikely. According to the Chinese research paper, the only place those particular bats existed locally was inside a research facility which was just several hundred yards from the Wuhan wet market. The paper strongly concluded that the coronavirus pandemic had likely been the result of a leak from the lab.

The Huanan Seafood Market is close to the WHCDC (map cited in the paper from Baidu and Google maps).

The paper observed, “The bats carrying CoV ZC45 were originally found in Yunnan or Zhejiang province, both of which were more than 900 kilometres away from the seafood market. Bats were normally found to live in caves and trees. But the seafood market is in a densely-populated district of Wuhan, a metropolitan of ~15 million people. The probability was very low for the bats to fly to the market. According to municipal reports and the testimonies of 31 residents and 28 visitors, the bat was never a food source in the city, and no bat was traded in the market. There was possible natural recombination or an intermediate host of the coronavirus, yet little proof has been reported.”

The paper notes the possibility that the Wuhan Center for Disease Control and Prevention played a prominent role in the outbreak of the pandemic. It stated, “Surgery was performed on the caged animals and the tissue samples were collected for DNA and RNA extraction and sequencing. The tissue samples and contaminated trashes were the source of pathogens. They were only ~280 meters from the seafood market. The WHCDC was also adjacent to the Union Hospital where the first group of doctors were infected during this epidemic. It is plausible that the virus leaked around and some of them contaminated the initial patients in this epidemic, though solid proofs are needed for future study.”

The claims made by the Chinese paper

The paper further added, “The second laboratory was ~12 kilometres from the seafood market and belonged to Wuhan Institute of Virology, Chinese Academy of Sciences. This laboratory reported that the Chinese horseshoe bats were natural reservoirs for the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus (SARS-CoV) which caused the 2002-3 pandemic. The principal investigator participated in a project which generated a chimeric virus using the SARS-CoV reverse genetics system and reported the potential for human emergence. A direct speculation was that SARS-CoV or its derivative might leak from the laboratory.”

Read: Coronavirus pandemic: American lawyer who filed 20 trillion USD lawsuit against China claims COVID-19 is a biological weapon developed in Wuhan laboratory

The paper concluded with the words, “In summary, somebody was entangled with the evolution of 2019-nCoV coronavirus. In addition to origins of natural recombination and intermediate host, the killer coronavirus probably originated from a laboratory in Wuhan. Safety level may need to be reinforced in high-risk biohazardous laboratories. Regulations may be taken to relocate these laboratories far away from city centre and other densely populated places.”

Tucker Carlson concluded his remarks on his show with the words, “Now this paper’s been online for nearly two months and so far it has been virtually ignored in this country. Almost nobody in American journalism has dared to write about it. The few who have were immediately attacked as dangerous conspiracy theorists. Instead of assessing what seemed like the rational conclusions presented in the Chinese paper, there was a spate of American news stories and academic research designed to show that the coronavirus absolutely could not have been engineered in a Chinese lab. They sounded supremely confident of that, but do they really know it? And the answer is no they don’t. As a factual matter, it is impossible for Western scientists to settle the question either way. So instead of doing that or admitting that, they amped up the rhetoric hoping you wouldn’t notice the difference.”

The Chinese epidemic has now engulfed almost the entire world has killed more than 42,000 people across the world. More than 8.8 lakhs have been tested positive after coming in contact with Chinese virus COVID-19. The United States of America leads the tally with 188,578 active cases and 3,890 deaths. Italy has seen the highest number of deaths with 12,428 succumbing to the Chinese virus out of the 105,792 affected. Interestingly, China which is the epicentre, according to its official figures, has only lost 3,305 people to the deadly pandemic.

French Church’s mega congregation in February linked to over 2500 cases of coronavirus across 4 countries

OpIndia Staff
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French Church’s mega congregation in February linked to over 2500 cases of coronavirus across 4 countries

A Church in the Mulhouse city of France that had organized a mega celebration in mid-February has now been linked to at least 2500 positive coronavirus cases across four different nations.

As per a Reuters report, the celebrations at the ‘Open Door Church’, in France lasted for a week starting on 18 February and was attended by persons who were already infected with the coronavirus.

As a result, the Christian congregation became another ‘super spreader’ since at least 2500 individuals across four countries such as France, Burkina Faso, Guyana, Switzerland, and Corsica infected with coronavirus have now been traced to the Open Door Church.

The week-long event witnessed attendance ranging from 1,000 to 2,500 per session. It was in late February when coronavirus had already hit various countries across the world. Reportedly, 17 members of the Church congregation have succumbed to COVID-19 novel coronavirus.

One of the infected attendees included employees at the French nuclear power plant and Peugeot Citroen Factory. A woman who was tested positive was a 70-year-old from the island of Corsica, a pastor Mamadou Karambiri who resides in Ouagadougou, the capital of Burkina Faso.

The head of the eastern France health agency, Christopher Lannelongue had earlier said that he expects more confirmed cases of coronavirus infection to appear in the region as the recent discoveries were of the 10 cases in the two families and all were linked to the evangelist church’s event in which over 2,000 people took part on an average.

Similar cases of coronavirus clusters have been seen in South Korea’s Sincheonji Church, where congregations led to dozens of positive cases. In India, Pakistan, Malaysia and several other places, the Tablighi Jamat’s Iztema have now been found to be behind infection and spreading of several dozen cases.

Coronavirus: No N95 masks or critical PPEs are being exported, govt allays fears in wake of claims on social media

OpIndia Staff
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Coronavirus: No N95 masks or critical PPEs are being exported, govt allays fears in wake of claims on social media

On 29 March, India supplied 90 tonnes of medical protective equipment to Serbia to help the country in fighting the Chinese coronavirus outbreak.

Similar tweet of goods being exported to Serbia from Cochin Customs House also raised similar concerns.

The medical equipment was purchased by the Serbian government and was funded by the European Union. However, many in India felt that this supply of medical equipment to Serbia was little irresponsible on part of Indian government as India itself running short on personal protection equipment and other critical gear.

OpIndia reached out to government officials in the know of the things who clarified that the medical equipments sent to Serbia other then being done on humanitarian grounds is not affecting India’s stock of critical gear needed by medical professionals. “There are presently 33 units in India making surgical gloves, with installed capacity of more than 10 crore pairs per month. Capacity utilisation is in the range of 20-30 % due to adverse market conditions. There is no shortage of the raw material of rubber latex too. Hence, any export will only help poor rubber farmers and increase their income,” top government source in the know of things told OpIndia.

In fact, India provided 15 tonnes of medical equipments to China worth Rs 2.11 crore when the communist country was hit by the outbreak. The deadly COVID-19 virus originated in China’s Wuhan which has infected over 7 lakh people worldwide and has left thousands dead. Moreover, India had banned export of the crucial N95 masks and personal protection equipments (PPEs) since January 31, 2020 [DGFT circular – pdf]. In an amended order also, the DGFT had allowed export of only surgical and disposable masks and all gloves except NBR gloves [pdf]. The PPEs and N95 masks continued to remain restricted even in that order. Hand Sanitizers and ventilators are prohibited from export from 24 March 2020. Textile raw materials for masks and coveralls are also prohibited from export from 19 March 2020 [pdf].

Moreover, the Indian government has reiterated time and again that the authorities have sufficient stock of crucial medical equipment needed to fight the Chinese coronavirus. Hence, while the concerns of some could be genuine and not politically motivated, they are unfounded.

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