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Online hate, unsolicited advice, breach of privacy and more – Delhi’s first Coronavirus patient recounts his ordeal

OpIndia Staff
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Online hate, unsolicited advice, breach of privacy and more – Delhi’s first Coronavirus patient recounts his ordeal

A 45-year-old businessman who manufactures technical textiles for footwear became the subject of hate messages and unsolicited advice after he tested positive for the deadly Wuhan Coronavirus (Covid-19), on March 1, reported News 18. Personal information such as his phone number was also leaked online.

The father of two had travelled to Milan in Italy on February 16 and then to Budapest in Hungary on February 21. He took a flight back to New Delhi from Vienna on February 24. He was diagnosed with coronavirus infection on March 1.

He narrated, “I started receiving phone calls and hate messages from unknown numbers while I was admitted in the hospital. I was made into a criminal. I was made to feel as if I went to Italy solely for the purpose of contracting this illness.” He was miffed that educated professionals known to him had been giving unsolicited medical advice, often wrought with baseless rumours.

A woman who called him to ask whether he was the coronavirus patient verbally abused him before disconnecting the phone call. An acquaintance called the patient to falsely inform that 25 to 30 per cent of his lungs had to be removed for his recovery.

The man was shifted to an isolated ward in Safdarjung Hospital. A team of 4 doctors broke the news to him. “They told me that I am coronavirus positive (first in Delhi) but I need not worry at all as it is like any other cold and cough. It may take a day or two extra but they said they will send me home hale and hearty. A major chunk of my worry was immediately relieved to see doctors being so helpful and caring towards me”, he recounted.

The resident of East Delhi then informed his wife and within a few hours, everyone he had been in contact with was tested. Lauding the promptness and preparedness of the Government, he said, “The health minister of the country did a video conference call with me during the 14-day period and enquired about my health.”

He was visited by a doctor 3 times a day and his ward was disinfected twice every day. The Covid-19 infected patient was allowed to video call his family members. He was cured on March 14 but has been recommended to be in-home quarantine for the next 2 weeks.

On Friday, the government of India has confirmed that the confirmed novel Coronavirus cases in India have climbed to 223. ICMR said in its report that a total of 14,376 samples have been tested from 13,486 individuals for testing the presence of SARS-CoV2 as on March 20, 2020.

Corona emerged from Quran, nothing will happen to us: Shaheen Bagh protester

OpIndia Staff
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Corona emerged from Quran, nothing will happen to us: Shaheen Bagh protester

Even as the central government is dramatically ramping up the restrictions amidst growing coronavirus outbreak, and have appealed to avoid large gatherings, the ani-CAA protests at Shaheen Bagh in Delhi continue, including several locations across the country. One of the protesters at Shaheen Bagh today dismissed the looming threat of coronavirus claiming that Corona emerged from Quran.

Yaha corona nahi hai. Hum logon ko pata hai. Unhe corona se darr hoga. Corona hamare Quran se nikla hai. Corona kya hai? Isse bhayanak bhayanak bimari aaegi. Aur uparwale ne chaha hume kuch nahin hoga. vo dare. Hum log darne wale nahin hai, (There is no corona here at Shaheen Bagh. We know that. They might be afraid of the corona. Corona emerged from the Quran. What is Corona? Deadlier diseases than corona will come. God willing, we will remain unscathed from those diseases. However, it is a matter of concern for them. They should be worried),” said a protester at Shaheen Bagh while rubbishing the apprehensions raised by many about Shaheen Bagh being a fertile ground for the community transmission of coronavirus.

The protesters at Shaheen Bagh, who have been squatting one of the busiest thoroughfares in the National capital for over 96 days now, causing grave inconvenience to the daily commuters and inhibiting the movement of vehicles through the road, have steadfastly denied calling off their protests, even in the face of coronavirus threat.

Several Muslims seems to have strange ideas about Coronavirus. In another video, one Muslims cleric was seeing addressing a gathering in West Bengal which included several police officers. The cleric said, Corona means Quran (Co), Roza (Ro) and Namaj (Na), and whoever follows these three will not be affected by the disease. He said that coronavirus is caused by Jinns or Ghosts, and such diseases go away when one reads the religious books and follow religious practices like Roza and Namaj.

Earlier, while speaking to a Times Now reporter, one of the lady protestors had 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’.

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. However, in flagrant disregard of the government 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.

At a time when the pandemic has triggered countries across the world to enforce an all-encompassing lockdown, protesters at Shaheen Bagh have shown brazen apathy towards fellow Indians as the community transmission of coronavirus at a place like Shaheen Bagh can touch off a massive public health crisis in the country, with transmissions multiplying inexorably. 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.

Kashmiri students returned from Bangladesh vandalise Srinagar airport refusing to go for quarantine, parents join protests

OpIndia Staff
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Kashmiri students returned from Bangladesh vandalise Srinagar airport refusing to go for quarantine, parents join protests

While the government and most people are doing their best to prevent the spread of coronavirus in the country, like screening the passengers coming from other countries at airports, some people continue to disregard the advisories and refuse the follow them. In such an incident, some students who arrived from Bangladesh refused to undergo the procedure at Srinagar airport yesterday. The students not only refused quarantine but also destroyed vandalised the Srinagar airport.

According to reports, after more than 160 students arrived at Srinagar airport from Bangladesh on Thursday night, the medical authorities at the airport asked them to cooperate for the quarantine process. But the students refused to go for quarantine and argued with the authorities. After that, the students started commotion at the Srinagar airport. They broke the glass windows and panes, shattered the counters at the arrival area.

The students had said that they have already undergone thermal screening at Kolkata airport, and refused to go for quarantine. At the same time, parents of the students who had come to receive them also started protests outside the airport and started chaos.

After that, the airport authorities and CISF called local police to resolve the issue. The police arrived with a magistrate and requested the students to cooperate, but they didn’t concede and continued with vandalism. After that, the police restrained the students on the directions of the magistrate, and they were sent to designated quarantine centres.

A police official said that some students from Bangladesh reached Srinagar International Airport. According to Budgam District Majistrate’s instructions, theses students were to be kept aside as a precaution in light of novel coronavirus infection, which was opposed by the students. However, all of them were later sent for quarantine.

Police have taken cognizance of the incident, and appropriate action will be taken against students who turned violent.

Indians react to people not taking social distancing norms seriously amid coronavirus pandemic: Read who became the object of their ire

Jinit Jain
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Indians react to people not taking social distancing norms seriously amid coronavirus pandemic: Read who became the object of their ire

With the palpable sense of fear sweeping across the country, Indians came down hard against the careless politicians and celebrities who were found violating the directives and defying the recommended practices amidst the coronavirus scare. The defiance of government advisories by prominent personalities belonging to different fields drew a sharp reaction from concerned Indians who castigated the public figures for setting a wrong example for their followers and taking a pandemic that has so far claimed more than 10000 lives lightly.

Bollywood Singer Kanika Kapoor is the latest object of public ire after it was revealed that she had attended a party and met over 100 people, and later tested positive for coronavirus. According to the reports, Kapoor returned from London this Sunday, stayed in a five-star hotel in Lucknow and threw a dinner party. Her dinner party was attended by at least a hundred people who are now being contacted to be quarantined, as per the statement of the singer. Some reports even claim that the singer allegedly tried to hide her travel history, defied self-isolation protocols and even evaded screening at the airport.

Soon after it was revealed that Kapoor was found to have tested positive for the virus and that she attended a party after defying self-isolation protocols, Netizens on Twitter slammed her exhibiting such a careless attitude amidst the threat from a surging pandemic. One Twitter wondered if Kapoor’s behaviour is reflective of the negligence associated with Bollywood.

Another Twitter user advocated arresting Kanika Kapoor and punishing her for criminal negligence for knowingly imperilling the lives of others.

The public fury has also been directed at the politicians who attended the party hosted by singer Kanika Kapoor. Former Rajasthan CM Vasundhara Raje, her son and BJP MP Dushyant Singh, Uttar Pradesh’s health minister Jai Pratap Singh were also at the receiving end of the criticism for attending the party that was hosted by singer Kanika Kapoor, who is now tested positive for Covid-19.

Besides, there has been utter chaos and panic in the area where singer Kanika was staying in an apartment in Mahanagar area, Lucknow. The authorities have taken preventive steps and ordered to close down bakeries and all other eateries in the vicinity.

There is also huge concern among MPs, officials and journalists as they had come into contact with Dushyant Singh after he attended the party. TMC MP Derek O’Brien has kept himself in self-isolation as he had sat next to Singh at a Parliament committee meeting for almost 2 hours.

Former Madhya Pradesh chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan also drew flak from the Netizens after pictures of him with a sea of a crowd at the BJP office in Bhopal went viral following the resignation by current CM Kamal Nath.

Twitter users expressed their disappointment with Chouhan for meeting and interacting with crowds even as the Prime Minister of the country pleaded his countrymen to observe social distancing in the face of novel coronavirus threat.

One Twitter user asked Shivraj Chauhan if he is practising social distancing that he was preaching, posting a video of future CM of MP where he had given advises on precautions to be taken for coronavirus.

Journalist Barkha Dutt said that even though Shivraj Chouhan is a fine man and this is his big day, this is not the social distancing that the PM urged.

A large number of people who criticised the BJP leaders for their irresponsible behaviour are BJP supporters. They said that such acts neutralise the efforts taken by the government authorities to curb the spread of the virus so far. Social media users said that we should not underestimate the virus and follow the suggestions in letter and spirit as advocated by PM Modi in his speech yesterday.

The cases of coronavirus in India is steadily on the rise. According to the health ministry, 206 cases have been confirmed so far. The central government and the state government are on a war footing to tackle the contagion that has wreaked havoc in countries across the globe. Prime Minister Narendra Modi in his address to the nation yesterday impressed upon all Indians the need to follow the practice of social distancing and only step out of the house only if very necessary.

Bilawal Bhutto, Pakistan’s Rahul Gandhi, announces that he won’t criticise PM Imran Khan amid coronavirus outbreak

OpIndia Staff
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Bilawal Bhutto, Pakistan’s Rahul Gandhi, announces that he won’t criticise PM Imran Khan amid coronavirus outbreak

Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) chairman Bila­wal Bhu­tto-Zardari, who is known as Pakistan’s alter ego of Gandhi-scion Rahul Gandhi on Thursday announced a “no criticism policy” against Prime Minis­ter Imran Khan and his government over its response to the coronavirus pandemic. 

Addressing a press conference at the Sindh Assem­bly, Bhutto-Zardari hinted that Pakistan was heading towards a lockdown and stated that it was not the right time to criticise the Imran Khan government but to co-operate with the government.

“It’s not the time to criticise the prime minister and I would not blame him or anyone. Instead, I should hope that he and every single citizen of Pakistan can win this fight. There is a need for increased coordination and unity,” said Bilawal Bhutto a day after the country reported its first two deaths from the virus.

Bilawal Bhutto, the heir of Bhutto family and Pakistan People’s Party chairman has time and again matched Rahul Gandhi in producing as many bloopers as the Gandhi-scion. Not only that, there have been times when he has given a tough fight to Wayanad MP by making equally stupid statements.

The so-called youth leaders of both countries share so many similarities in terms of political and social background. The political leaders have much in common and are only separated on geopolitical lines. Bilawal, like Rahul Gandhi, comes from a family of politicians. His mother, Benazir Bhutto and maternal grandfather Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, were both Prime Ministers of Pakistan. His father, Asif Ali Zardari, has been President of Pakistan. His paternal grandfather and uncles and aunts from either side of family have been politicians of Pakistan. Rahul Gandhi’s father, grandmother and great grandfather have all been Prime Ministers of India. His mother has been an MP and now his sister has also joined active politics.

However, for a change, Bhutto has spoken some sense by expressing solidarity with the Pakistan government in the challenging times of global pandemic of COVID-19 contrast to the stand taken by his Indian counterpart. Ever since the outbreak of COVID-19 occurred in India, the Gandhi-scion has been making irresponsible comments targetting the government rather than giving productive assessment to tackle the global epidemic.

Rahul Gandhi, who gave a series of lectures to the Modi government on handling the Corona crisis last week, however, was as usual high on rhetorics. When asked about the specific suggestions he wished to give to Narendra Modi government on handling the coronavirus, Rahul Gandhi in his quintessential style, ran away from the responsibility by stating that he was not an expert on the subject of Coronavirus.

BJP MP Dushyant Singh tested negative for coronavirus, was present in Kanika Kapoor’s party with mother Vasundhara Raje

OpIndia Staff
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BJP MP Dushyant Singh tested negative for coronavirus, was present in Kanika Kapoor’s party with mother Vasundhara Raje

BJP MP Dushyant Singh, who attended Kanika Kapoor’s dinner party along with his mother Vasundhara Raje has been tested negative in his first sampling taken to test for coronavirus infection. Dushyant Singh and his mother Vasundhara Raje, the former Chief Minister of Rajasthan self quarantined themselves when the news of Kanika Kapoor being isolated due to infection by the novel coronavirus came out.

Bollywood singer Kanika Kapoor was tested positive on Friday and was sent to isolation at King George Medical University in Lucknow. Before that, she threw a dinner party that was attended by nearly a hundred people. Vasundhara Raje and her son Dushyant were one of those who attended her dinner party.

Despite the initial sample coming negative, Dushyant, Vasundhara Raje and all persons who had come in contact with Kanika Kapoor will need to stay quarantined for now.

The former Rajasthan CM Vasundhara Raje confirmed that she had attended the party in Lucknow along with her son on Twitter and also claimed that she and her son Dushyant have now quarantined themselves and are taking all necessary precautions.

Recently, Dushyant Singh had attended the Parliament the next day and interacted with fellow MPs raising serious concerns about the chances of lawmakers being contracted with the deadly virus. Dushyant was also among the MPs who had also met president Kovind recently.

Watch: Coronavirus is a ploy by Amit Shah and Kejriwal to remove us, claims Shaheen Bagh ‘protestor’

OpIndia Staff
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Watch: Coronavirus is a ploy by Amit Shah and Kejriwal to remove us, claims Shaheen Bagh ‘protestor’

Shaheen Bagh ‘protestors’ believe that coronavirus is a ploy by Home Minister Amit Shah and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal to get them to end the protests.

The ‘protestor’ can be heard arguing how coronavirus can also happen to those who travel in metro but no one is asking them to stop. However, everyone wants Shaheen Bagh protests to end, she argues. “Is it necessary we will get coronavirus if we come to protests? It can happen in our homes also. Are we not stepping out of homes? We are going out of houses, children are going to school, taking metro, going to market. 10 people sitting in Parliament and talking. Won’t they get infected? It is an excuse to remove the protests. Either by Amit Shah or by Kejriwal,” she says.

Read: Ram Navami Mela at Ayodhya to be called off due to Covid-19 threat, formal announcement soon

It is imperative to note that in view of the pandemic, all shopping malls, cinema halls and public places except the ones dealing in basic essentials are shut down in Delhi. The central as well as state governments have issued advisory on social distancing. However, for women of Shaheen Bagh, blatant flouting of rules was not enough. Hence they now think that coronavirus is a conspiracy.

Yes Bank case: Rana Kapoor demands bigger prison cell, claims he is ‘easily susceptible’ to coronavirus

OpIndia Staff
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Yes Bank case: Rana Kapoor demands bigger prison cell, claims he is ‘easily susceptible’ to coronavirus

After being sent to judicial custody till April 2 by a Mumbai court in connection to a money laundering case, the lawyer of Yes Bank founder Rana Kapoor, Abbad Ponda, informed the court that his client had low immunity and was thus “easily susceptible” to the deadly Wuhan virus, Covid-19.

On being asked by Judge Parashuram Jadhav, Kapoor said that he was suffering from asthma from the past 6-7 years, besides low immunity and acute depression. Ponda said, “The virus is spreading very fast. It is a very precarious situation. If he goes there (to the jail) he might catch something which is very very serious. ”

His lawyer also demanded a bigger prison cell. The court directed prison health officials to take care of Rana Kapoor. The Judge also sent the accused to judicial custody until April 2 as the Enforcement Directorate (ED) did not seek his further remand.

Rana Kapoor, was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Sunday around 3 am in Mumbai. He was arrested under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), following allegations of mismanagement and financial irregularities. Earlier, his upscale residence in ‘Samudra Mahal’ complex in Worli area was raided by the ED on Friday night. Reportedly, Kapoor was questioned for over 20 hours by the central agency on Saturday, finally leading to his arrest on Sunday morning.

The Central Bureau of Investigation had booked Kapoor and his wife Bindhu Kapoor for receiving ₹307 crore bribe from Avantha Realty Ltd. in connection to the purchase of a 1.2-acre uber-luxe bungalow at 40, Amrita Shergill Marg, New Delhi that was valued at ₹550 crores. Yes Bank is accused of not initiating actions to recover ₹1900 crores from the Avantha Group, despite the group of companies defaulting on its payment.

The ED was also investigating whether a dummy company controlled by Kapoor and two of his daughters, Doit Urban Ventures, received kickbacks to the tune of ₹600 crores in return for granting a ₹4,450 crore loan to Dewan Housing Financial Corporation Limited (DHFL).

18 Indian and international companies get licenses to conduct Coronavirus tests in India

OpIndia Staff
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18 Indian and international companies get licenses to conduct Coronavirus tests in India

The Drug Controller General of India has given licenses to 18 companies to conduct tests for coronavirus (Covid-19)amid the outbreak in the country. Till now only govt laboratories are only conducting tests for Covid-19.

The agency has given license to 18 companies which include international and Indian private companies to conduct novel coronavirus tests.

As per reports, some of these companies include– Cadila healthcare limited, Zydus Health care limited, Medsource healthcare private limited, Cosara diagnostics private limited, Roche Diagnostics, Biomerieux etc.

An official requesting anonymity said, “a lot of companies have approached us. Only a few of them could fulfil the parameters. Since these are the test license, first we will do an assessment. Then we will provide to our laboratory technicians in India.” Currently, 75 government labs are doing tests for the Covid-19.

Yesterday Ahmedabad based CoSara Diagnostics Pvt Ltd had claimed that they have become the fiest company to get a licence from Central Drugs Standards Control Organisation (CDSCO) to manufacture coronavirus test kits. The firm claims its reagent kits can give coronavirus test results in about 2.5 hrs, as against five hours taken by the kits being used by ICMR and its labs. The company is a joint venture between Co-Diagnostics Inc of Utah, USA, and Ambalal Sarabhai Enterprises of India.

The Indian Council of Medical Research has confirmed that the novel Coronavirus cases in India have climbed to 206 on Friday. ICMR said in its report that a total of 14,376 samples have been tested from 13,486 individuals for testing the presence of SARS-CoV2 as on March 20, 2020. The Prime Minister has asked the country to observe a “Janata curfew” on 22 March and urged the citizens to remain indoors unless necessary. The PM also asked people to postpone non-essential surgeries, and avoid visiting hospitals.

With Wuhan virus, political correctness is being ‘monetized’ for the first time ever

Abhishek Banerjee
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With Wuhan virus, political correctness is being ‘monetized’ for the first time ever

Let us be clear on this. This pandemic is China’s fault.

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First case of China traced to November 17, 2019

China, this is on you! YOU are responsible for thousands of deaths across the world. YOU are responsible for the global economic crisis and recession which is coming. YOU are responsible for what could be hundreds of millions of people losing their livelihoods.

China had the first case on Nov 17. They didn’t tell the world anything. They hid it all. By mid December, several Chinese labs had found evidence of a ‘mystery virus’. But China destroyed the samples, stopped the tests and covered up the news.

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Chinese scientists destroyed proof of virus in December

Even when the news filtered to the world, China kept feeding us nonsense news. Here is the World Health Organization on Jan 14, reporting what they had been told by Chinese authorities.

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No evidence of human to human transmission? Really?

Why do we need to keep repeating this is China’s fault? Doesn’t everyone know by now has heard that the virus began in Wuhan in Hubei province in China?

Well, yeah. But history is an ever changing thing. Public memory is short. China has hit the propaganda game hard to stave off the PR nightmare.

Just two months ago, it was acceptable and totally commonplace to refer to this as the Chinese virus.

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By mid-March, opinions published on CNN had shifted.

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Opinion about referring to coronavirus as ‘Chinese virus’ change

In fact, liberal media was now publicly challenging Trump on why he and other Republicans were calling it “Chinese virus.” Suddenly the term that everyone was using just two months ago had been declared racist.

You know what’s coming. They will scrub it all clean. That tweet from CNN may disappear some day. Any website containing any reference to that term might be scrubbed clean. Algorithms of social media giants might start identifying the expression “Chinese virus” as hate speech and start auto deleting any post with those words.

Nothing is secure, except the thoughts in our head. They know human memory is perishable and they will work non stop to make us forget. See if you notice the game being played in this tweet.

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That man is an Associate Professor of Government at Harvard University.

Did you catch that? Did you see how cleverly he framed the sentence? He tried to misdirect us like a street magician. The really relevant part of that sentence is in the first part (which you are likely to miss), not the second (which you are likely to remember). Cleverly and wickedly, Prof. Wang has sown the idea that there is some “debate” over where the virus came from!

That’s how it starts. Now they will say we must “teach the controversy” over where the virus came from.

Nothing is safe, except for the thoughts that we can hold on to in our heads. And the thoughts we can pass around to those we know. The future generations must know what the world suffered because of the fault of the Chinese government.

With the Chinese virus pandemic, we are seeing something new and terrifying. For decades now, the network of political correctness has been laid all across the free world. But like many tech startups that later became giants, the revenue model for this was not immediately obvious. A lot of liberals got highly paid jobs working for this startup.

But, ultimately, the funding was coming from something resembling venture capital. A vast network for manipulating public opinion was being created, but it was not immediately clear how it would be ‘monetized.’

Well, now we know who would be willing to pay big $$$ for access to this network.  Right now, the Chinese government wants history wiped clean. And liberals can help. Liberals can use their vast network to declare this or that as “politically incorrect.” And once something is declared politically incorrect, it is as good as banned!

That’s exactly what China wants. That’s exactly what China is getting right now.

The Chinese govt does not want the world to remember that the pandemic is their fault. Liberals have declared the term “Chinese virus” as racist, thus effectively banning it.

We all suspected that political correctness was a veiled form of fascism. And for the first time, we are literally seeing political correctness being made into a tool for serving dictators. Be very certain that this tool will be used again and again.

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