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Corona Yoddha: Filmmaker Manish Mundra talks about complete strangers have come together on Twitter to fight the good fight

OpIndia Staff
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Corona Yoddha: Filmmaker Manish Mundra talks about complete strangers have come together on Twitter to fight the good fight

The Wuhan Coronavirus pandemic has unleashed unfathomable strife and great hardships across the world. Apart from the rising death toll, people have also suffered immensely due to the economic crisis that was precipitated by the necessary lockdown. In India, a nationwide lockdown has been in force since the 25th of March and various groups, migrant workers especially, have suffered gravely due to it. Amidst the grave turn of events, people from various walks of life have come forward to help alleviate the suffering of people in their own personal capacity. One of them is Manish Mundra, the producer of the popular Bollywood movie Masaan.

Even before the lockdown, Manish Mundra has been contributing to charities to help people in distress. In March, before the lockdown, or even the Janata Curfew on the 22nd of March, he had contributed Rs. 10 lakh towards BJP politician Kapil Mishra’s appeal for donations to help the Hindu victims of the anti-Hindu riots in Delhi. Later, a day before the Janata Curfew, Manish Mundra pledged Rs. 3 crores to secure 70 ventilators for the treatment of those affected by the virus.

Since then, the filmmaker has been participating actively in India’s fight against the Wuhan Coronavirus. He has been working to deliver PPE kits in hospitals where they would be necessary for the doctors to combat the virus. He has delivered the PPE kits to hospitals in Nagpur, and in places such as Dehradun, Morena, Yevetmal, Darbhanga and Ahmedabad. He has donated kits to numerous other hospitals other than the places mentioned. He is also serving as a conduit for people who wish to donate but do not have the means to organize the distribution.

Speaking to OpIndia, Mundra said, “My biggest motive is to help my country in these difficult times and specifically the frontline medical and support staff. If we can protect them we can fight longer. That’s the key to win this Coronavirus fight. If the doctors and nurses fall we fall.” And while he did face initial hurdles in logistics owing to the nationwide lockdown, things soon fell into place. “As they say god helps if we are in pursuit of good things Twitter got me an amazing person in Anubhuti she is professional with an expertise in logistics across India. She came from nowhere and became part of our team and since then we have had no problem in despatches,” he said.

Over and above this, Mundra and his team has also been serving cooked food packages. Food worth Rs 3-4 lakh is being supplied daily.

Cooked food served

In addition to this, Manish Mundra has also been helping those who are donating ration kits to those hurt by the lockdown. People have expressed profound gratitude to him for helping them help other people. There are others who have initiated their own efforts to combat the virus taking inspiration from him. He has made contributions to those who are working to provide the affected with food during the ongoing crisis.

Simultaneously, Manish Mundra has also been urging others from the Bollywood industry and sports industry to contribute to the country’s fight against the pandemic and has been working to organize a concerted response to the crisis. He emphasized that there was a need to distribute as many PPEs as possible in states most affected and informed them that should they use the Indian Postal Network, the equipment would reach them in five to seven days. He said that he could help them locate suppliers and they could make the payment directly.

In addition to that, Manish Mundra has emphasized the need for the distribution to be done in a planned manner. “We need to do a statewise plan for PPE distribution to all key hospitals of Maharastra / MP / UP/ Rajasthan/ Bihar / Jharkhand. To identify key hospitals in the HotSpot and send them the PPE,” he said.

In the ongoing pandemic, Manish Mundra has come up with the slogan of “Let’s do more!” He says the entire team that has come together to fight for the cause has come together on Twitter, most of whom have never met each other in person. “The entire team developed through Twitter. Now we have few more team members making possible for us to reach far off destinations in 3/4 days. With the help of Indian Railways / Indian Post and other courier services. Anubhuti, Devang Dave, Ankit Jain, Bhoomika, Dharmendra Chonkar… we all came together through Twitter,” he said.

Wikipedia page of RSS vandalised calling it a Hindu terrorist organisation by Islamist user with a history of anti-Hindu edits

OpIndia Staff
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Wikipedia page of RSS vandalised calling it a Hindu terrorist organisation by Islamist user with a history of anti-Hindu edits

In yet another incident of anti-Hindu vandalism on Wikipedia, today the Wikipedia page of RSS was edited to brand it as a terrorist organisation The introductory sentence in the article was changed to Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, abbreviated as RSS is an Indian right-wing, Hindu terrorist organisation.

The original article said “Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, abbreviated as RSS is an Indian right-wing, Hindu Nationalist organisation”. The words “Hindu Nationalist organisation” was replaced with “Hindu terrorist organisation” to brand the cultural organisation by a Wikipedia editor with the user name Ahmedfalah7711.

Although the vandalism was reverted by several alert editors on Wikipedia, this Ahmedfalah7711 seems to be in a mission to defame RSS, as the vandalism was repeated several times by the user. Even though the article was put under semi-protection, the vandalism continued as it was done by a logged in account.

In general most Wikipedia vandalism is done by without logging into the crowd-sources encyclopaedia site, and semi-protecting articles allows to stop such attacks as editing in such articles are not allowed without logging into the site. But as the RSS article vandalism was done by a logged in user, the semi-protection didn’t work. The article was first vandalised just after 12 at midnight today, and after that a war between the vandal and editors continued, each reverting the previous edit.

A look at the talk page of Ahmedfalah7711 shows that the user is a regular offender, as the user has been warned multiple times in the past for indulging in edit wars. Last month the user had vandalised the Wikipedia page of Home Minister Amit Shah, where it was edited to say that Amit Shah was born in a Jain family, and he calls himself a Hindu despite being seen praying at Jain temples.

The user had also vandalised the Wikipedia page on Conversion of non-Islamic places of worship into mosques. This article documents the various non-Islamic places of worship which were converted to mosques, and the user had removed the entire section on Ram Janmabhoomi from the article.

Islamists are having a free run on Wikipedia in recent times by doing disruptive editing. Just two weeks ago, the page on Noakhali riot was vandalised where Hindus and Muslims were switched, and the anti-Hindu riot by Muslim was converted into anti-Muslim riot by Hindus. Before that, the Wikipedia page of Delhi riots was made as anti-Hindu from the beginning. The leftist Islamist administrators the site also deleted the page on Tablighi Jamaat hotspot of Coronavirus, calling it anti-Muslim, despite the fact that the religious congregation has emerged as one of the major spreaders of the virus in India and several other countries.

Watch: National Minorities Commission Chairman Ghayorul Hasan Rizvi slams Zafarul Islam’s statements, says Indian Muslims are safe and free

OpIndia Staff
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Watch: National Minorities Commission Chairman Ghayorul Hasan Rizvi slams Zafarul Islam’s statements, says Indian Muslims are safe and free

National Commission of Minorities chairman Ghayorul Hasan Rizvi slammed Delhi Minorities Commission chief Zafarul Islam for his remarks against India which claimed that Muslims in India are treated badly.

Ghayorul Hasan Rizvi said that Indian Muslims and Muslims in foreign countries know that Muslims in India are happy and living with dignity and honour. There’s no Islamophobia in India.

The National Commission of Minorities chairman said, “Muslim consider India as heaven”. He added that Zafarul Islam has tried to malign the country’s image.

In a video message, Ghayorul Hasan Rizvi stated, “National minorities Commission condemns the statements made by Zafarul Islam which are divisive in nature. Zafarul Islam should not have forgotten that people of all religion have been living in harmony for centuries and have faced all calamities together.”

Rizvi also stated that Zafarul Islam should remember that despite vehement opposition from an Islamic nation like Pakistan, many Arab nations have honoured our PM Modi with the highest civilian awards of their countries. Rizvi added that strict action should be taken against Zafarul Islam for his hateful comments.

Zafarul Islam had shared a provocative and hateful post

Zafarul Islam had taken to Facebook on Tuesday to share a provocative post to thank Kuwait for “standing with the Indian Muslims”, over an old statement by the Kuwaiti secretary-general of the cabinet. Islam had even threatened Hindus in India, saying, “Mind you, bigots, Indian Muslims have opted until now not to complain to the Arab and Muslim world about your hate campaigns and lynchings and riots. The day they are pushed to do that, bigots will face avalanche”.

Kuwait Ambassador’s Statement

Recently, an old statement by the Secretary-General of Kuwait cabinet had gone viral on social media, where the Secretary-General had parroted Pakistan’s favourite lines about Muslims being persecuted in India.

The Kuwait government, through their ambassador in India Jassem Al-Najem, has clarified that they respect the UN charter of non-interference in other countries’ affairs and respecting the sovereignty of nations. The Kuwaiti ambassador had also highlighted the current cooperation between the two nations.

Uddhav Thackeray’s fate as Maharashtra CM hangs in balance as the Governor is yet to decide on his nomination

OpIndia Staff
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Uddhav Thackeray’s fate as Maharashtra CM hangs in balance as the Governor is yet to decide on his nomination

Besides affecting the physical and mental state well being of people, the coronavirus outbreak may have also created a situation of constitutional crisis in the state of Maharashtra.

The chief minister of the state, Uddhav Thackeray, was elected to the position of state’s chief minister on November 27, 2019. Since he was not a member of either house of the state legislature, it was imperative for him to become a member within 6 months, i.e May 27, 2019. However, in the wake of the coronavirus outbreak, the Election Commission had indefinitely postponed the polls of legislative council scheduled on April 24, thereby plunging Maharashtra government into a crisis.

As per reports, in order to thwart the impending predicament, a group of cabinet ministers including NCP leaders Ajit Pawar and Jayant Patil, Shiv Sena’s Eknath Shinde and Anil Pranab, and Congress’ Babasaheb Thorat met with the state governor Bhagat Singh Koshiyari on Tuesday with a revised state cabinet recommendation to appoint Thackeray to the council.

However, according to one senior cabinet minister privy to the discussion with the state governor, Koshiyari was non-committal in assuring the ministers of Thackeray’s nomination to the council. With Thackeray’s fate as CM in limbo, the government is considering approaching to the Election Commission demanding early polls to the legislative council.

Soon after the Election Commission deferred the Legislative Council elections in the state amidst the coronavirus crisis, Thackeray wanted to be a nominee of the governor as two such posts were lying vacant. A proposal for his nomination was submitted to the Raj Bhavan on April 9 but no decision was taken by the governor on the grounds of technicalities. The government then passed a new resolution this Monday.

“A cabinet meeting was summoned on Wednesday to assess the state’s fight against the coronavirus. We may pass a resolution urging the Election Commission to carry out elections to the council as early as possible, preferably before May 20. All the social distancing norms mandated by the ICMR will be followed. The EC holds the power of reducing the notice period of the council elections. They should accept our request for the sake of stability of the state government,” the cabinet member said as quoted by the Times of India.

The cabinet member also added that the government was also mulling over the proposal of asking the Supreme Court of the country to suspend the provision of the election within six months. “In the wake of nationwide lockdown, the government has postponed all statutory activities by three months. Likewise, we feel that the top court should also relax the provision of six months as a special case. Thackeray has not been able to fight the elections because of the ongoing lockdown,” the member said.

In the event that Thackeray fails to be nominated on the council, he will have to resign from the post of chief minister. However, Thackeray can be sworn in as CM yet again after he gets elected to either House within 6 months or a new CM will have to be elected.

Dairy giant Amul joins the Turmeric Latte rage, introduces ‘Haldi Doodh’ to strengthen the immune system during Coronavirus pandemic

OpIndia Staff
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Dairy giant Amul joins the Turmeric Latte rage, introduces ‘Haldi Doodh’ to strengthen the immune system during Coronavirus pandemic

Amid the Wuhan coronavirus outbreak in the country, when everyone is seeking ways to stay immune and prevent infection, the Dairy giant Amul has launched ‘Haldi Doodh’. The ‘Haldi Doodh’ or turmeric milk that is also known as Golden milk is known for its anti-bacterial and anti-inflammatory properties. It’s ready to drink beverages available at Rs 30 per 200 ml can.

In the wake of the grave health crisis in the country, the Ministry of Ayush issued guidelines that also included consumption of golden milk that is turmeric milk to keep their immunity level up.

So in order to provide a ready to drink option, the Amul has launched the easily accessible and immunity booster ‘Haldi Doodh’ also called turmeric latte.

For years, the Ayurveda have been recommending turmeric as the best compound to fight infective diseases both as a fresh and as dried spice powder, to promote health. Turmeric is used for multiple purposes including the remedies to brighten the skin tone. It is also referred to as a superfood.

The turmeric milk is loaded with antioxidants that protect cells from damage, fight off the diseases and infections to contribute the overall health. Have the strong anti-inflammatory properties that may reduce inflammation and joint pain. It is also said that the golden milk may help preserve memory and reduce the decline of brain function due to Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s disease. The Golden milk is rich in calcium and Vitamin D that contribute to a strong skeleton reducing the risk of bone diseases such as osteopenia and osteoporosis.

Read- ‘Hath’ se nikal gaya: Amul takes a jibe on Jyotiraditya Scindia slipping out of Congress’ hand

This ancient Indian health drink has become immensely popular in western countries, where it is available as a trendy drink named turmeric latte. Also known as ‘cuppa glow’, this beverage has become a rage in cafes in USA, UK and other countries. According to The Guardian, the ‘golden milk’ has a cult following, due to its health benefits, as an anti-inflammatory and an alternative to a caffeinated drink.

Yogi Adityanath trying to woo companies moving out of China amidst Coronavirus pandemic, over 100 US companies shown interest: UP Minister

OpIndia Staff
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Yogi Adityanath trying to woo companies moving out of China amidst Coronavirus pandemic, over 100 US companies shown interest: UP Minister

In the wake of the geopolitical and economic repercussions of the Wuhan Coronavirus pandemic across the world, many companies are now considering to move out of China and relocate their businesses and firms to other nations so as to reduce their dependency on China. Trying to make full use of this opportunity, BJP government led by Yogi Adityanath in Uttar Pradesh has been putting in all efforts to attract these investors to the state, which would help in reviving the pandemic-hit economy.

This basic idea to attract investors pulling out of China was floated by Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath during a high-level key meeting held in presence of MSME Minister Sidharth Nath Singh and Industrial Development Minister Satish Mahana on Wednesday.

Video conference held by Yogi Adityanath, over 100 American companies shown interest

After the meeting, MSME Minister Sidharth Nath Singh was quoted by news agency ANI as saying: “Companies including big names from logistics, scientific instrumentation, electronic, automobile industries. They already have investments in China. I’m hopeful we’ll be able to bring them to UP, given how we’re working by making changes in our industrial and sectorial policy.

He said that the Prime Minister and UP Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath want to use the opportunity where industries are moving out of China and see how they can be brought to India. He confirmed that video-conferencing was held with over 100 American companies yesterday in a webinar and they have shown interest.

At present, companies from Japan, the United States, Korea and other European nations with huge investment in China are mulling to move out after the coronavirus pandemic. Meanwhile, Japan has already started wooing these investors by announcing economic packages for the companies moving out of China.

Yogi Adityanath govt formulating policies to woo investors

UP government has started reformulating its various policies to suit these investors who are contemplating opting out of China in the wake of the coronavirus outbreak.

According to sources, Uttar Pradesh government is eyeing on the food processing industry which was in abundance in Wuhan province of China before the coronavirus outbreak.

The Yogi government in Uttar Pradesh has been pitching itself as an attractive investment destination in the past few years. The Investors’ Summit held back in 2018 and also Defence Expo held in Lucknow in February this year has already attracted foreign interests. Some of the Adityanath government’s major infrastructural projects, such as the upcoming Jewar airport in Greater Noida, Purvanchal Expressway and defence corridor, have been planned to facilitate greater industrial investment in the state whose major population depends on agriculture.

1000 foreign firms plan production in India 

Around a thousand foreign companies are contemplating shifting their manufacturing base to India as the geopolitical and economic repercussions of the Wuhan Coronavirus pandemic becomes imminent. The said companies are in discussions with the Indian government and at least 300 of them are actively pursuing production plans in sectors such as mobiles, electronics, medical devices, textiles and synthetic fabric, according to top government sources.

Nirmala Sitharaman schools Rahul Gandhi after he spreads misinformation again by terming ‘bad loan write off’ by banks as ‘loan waiver’

OpIndia Staff
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Nirmala Sitharaman schools Rahul Gandhi after he spreads misinformation again by terming ‘bad loan write off’ by banks as ‘loan waiver’

On Tuesday, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman schooled Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on his false claims on “wilful defaulters, bad loans and write-offs”, calling them an attempt to “mislead people in a brazen manner” and sensationalise facts. 

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman’s response to Rahul Gandhi came after Gandhi-scion had claimed that the BJP government had waived off loans worth Rs 68,607 crore in the form of write-offs of top 50 wilful defaulters.

Earlier, Rahul Gandhi had attacked the ruling BJP after the Reserve Bank of India released a list of 50 wilful defaulters accused of cheating banks. These 50 defaulters included the companies of absconding diamantaire Mehul Choksi and fugitive businessman Vijay Mallya.

“I asked a simple question in Parliament — tell me the names of 50 biggest bank scammers. Finance Minister refused to reply. Now RBI has put names of Nirav Modi, Mehul Choksi and other BJP friends in the list. This is why they hid the truth from parliament,” the Congress MP had tweeted in Hindi along with a video.

Responding to the allegation of the Congress leader, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, in a series of tweets accused Rahul Gandhi of sensationalising facts by taking them out of context. Highlighting that between 2009-10 and 2013-14, scheduled commercial banks had written off Rs 1,45,226 crore, she quipped, “Wished Gandhi consulted former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on what this writing-off was about”.

She said provisions are made for Non-Performing Assets according to a four-year provisioning cycle laid down by the RBI. “Upon full provisioning being done, banks write-off the fully provided NPA but continue to pursue recovery against the borrower. No loan is waived off,” she wrote.

Finance Minister Sitharaman said that wilful defaulters were beneficiaries of ‘phone banking’ under the UPA regime and the Modi government is chasing them to recover the dues.

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman also referred to media reports quoting former Reserve Bank of India (RBI) governor Raghuram Rajan as having said that a large number of bad loans originated in the period 2006-2008 and “too many loans were made to well-connected promoters who have a history of defaulting on their loans”.

“Useful to recall the words of Raghuram Rajan: “A large number of bad loans originated in the period 2006-2008…Too many loans were made to well-connected promoters who have a history of defaulting on their loans…Public sector bankers continued financing promoters even while private sector banks were getting out. RBI could have raised more flags about the quality of lending…” Raghuram Rajan (said)… From 2015, PSBs (Public Sector Banks) were asked by the government to check all NPAs >50 crores for wilful default,” Minister Sitharaman responded to Rahul Gandhi on Twitter.

The Finance Minister then went onto explain regarding how properties belonging to fugitives Nirav Modi, Mehul Choksi and Vijay Mallya have been attached by the Modi government after they defaulted on the loans.

Sitharaman stated that immovable and movable properties belonging to fugitive Nirav Modi worth more than Rs 2,387 crores have been attached or seized, including foreign attachments of Rs 961.47 crore. “The auction of luxury items belonging to Nirav Modi has yielded for Rs 53.45 Crore. He is in prison in the UK,” said Finance Minister.

Citing progress on Mehul Choski case, Finance Minister said properties worth Rs 1,936.95 crore including foreign attachment of Rs 67.9 crore have been attacked by the union government. The government has also seized Rs 597.75 crore. She added, “Red Notice issued. Extradition Request sent to Antigua. Hearing for declaration of Mehul Choksi as Fugitive Offender is in progress”.

In connection with Vijay Mallya’s willful defaulting of loans, Finance Minister clarified stating that, “Total value at the time of attachment was Rs 8040 Crore and of seizure was Rs 1,693 Crore. Value of shares at the time of seizure was Rs 1693 Crore. Declared fugitive offender. On extradition request by GoI, UK High Court has also ruled for extradition.”

Sitharaman said it was the Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led government which was pursuing these wilful defaulters.

“9,967 recovery suits, 3,515 FIRs, invoking Fugitive Amendment Act in cases are on now. Total value of attachment and seizures in the cases of Nirav Modi, Mehul Choksi and Vijay Mallya: Rs 18,332.7 crore,” she said.

“Bank-wise details of aggregate funded amount outstanding and amount technically/prudentially written off, pertaining to top fifty wilful defaulters was provided as an annex to the answer to Lok Sabha starred question *305 of Rahul Gandhi on 16.3.2020,” the FM wrote.

Sitharaman also mentioned that a list of “borrowers flagged as wilful defaulter by Public Sector Banks under CRILIC reporting as on September 30, 2019 (for borrowers with exposure of Rs 5 crore and above, global operations) was provided”, on November 18, 2019, in the Lok Sabha.

The finance minister stated that Congress and Gandhi should introspect why they fail to play a constructive role in cleaning up the system. “Neither while in power, nor while in the opposition has the Congress shown any commitment or inclination to stop corruption and cronyism,” Sitharaman further stated.

Congress claims on loans ‘write-off’

Soon after reports emerged that the government had written-off certain loans, the Congress leaders attempted to mislead people by spinning facts between write-offs with waivers, indicating that the loan given to the wilful defaulters are completely waived-off.

In reality, ‘write-off’ is a process of balance sheet cleaning up exercise undertaken by banks to depict the real status of the bank’s assets and liabilities. The write-offs are not loan waivers as claimed by Congress party and its ecosystem.

The banks usually write off loans (an asset to the bank) given to borrowers, which have now shown signs of weakness. If banks fail to write-off these loans, it is reflected as a high-quality asset and the returns-on-assets should be classified as an income to the bank. However, the quality of a defaulted loan has deteriorated for some time now, which results in giving the wrong picture of the true assets of the bank.

Secondly, if a loan is not written-off and is continued as a healthy asset at a time when it actually is a Non-Performing Asset (NPA), then banks can continue to book interest income on the loan, on the accrual basis of accounting.

However, there are two impacts if the bank continues to do so. Firstly, the bank is artificially increasing its income by booking interest on an accrual basis, the income which is doubtful as the loan is actually an NPA.

Secondly, the bank has to pay tax on earning such interest income. With mounting bad loans, it is bad for business for banks as it increases banks’ liabilities through unnecessary tax payments. Hence, scheduled commercial banks regularly write-off loans to effective accounting.

Once a loan is “written-off”, income booking on the same is based on actual receipt of income, and not based on accrual, banks continue to earn interest on such loans and recognize it as income only when they receive it.

Write-offs are a purely technical, accounting entry. Loans, which may not be repaid by the borrower in the normal course of business are written off. Even when these loans are written off, various recovery procedures like recovery suits filed before the Debt Recovery Tribunal and action initiated under SARFAESI Act continue. Hence, the writing-off a loan is not simply a ‘waive-off’.

Film actor Irrfan Khan dies at 54

OpIndia Staff
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Film actor Irrfan Khan dies at 54

Bollywood actor Irfan Khan passed away in Mumbai today. He was rushed to Kokilaben Ambani hospital on Tuesday following colon infection and was admitted to the ICU. In 2018 he was diagnosed with neuroendocrine tumour.

Filmmaker Shoojit Sircar took to Twitter to express his condolences and grief over passing of Irfan Khan.

Irfan Khan, the actor

Khan had undergone treatment abroad for several months in 2019. His last movie that was released is Homi Adajania’s Angrezi Medium. He has also acted in several remarkable movies like Maqbool, Paan Singh Tomar, The Lunchbox, Haider, Piku and Hindi Medium. He has also acted in Hollywood films like Slumdog Millionaire, Jurassic World, The Amazing Spiderman and Life of Pi.

More than 700 dead in Iran after drinking Methanol over false rumours that it will cure coronavirus

OpIndia Staff
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More than 700 dead in Iran after drinking Methanol over false rumours that it will cure coronavirus

More than 700 people have died in Iran after ingesting toxic methanol after falsely believing in rumours that it can cure the Chinese coronavirus, reports Al Jazeera.

According to the reports, more than 5,000 people have been poisoned from methanol-mixed alcohol leading to 728 Iranians getting killed between February 20 and April 7. Last year there were only 66 deaths from alcohol poisoning in the Islamic Republic.

“People think that alcohol causes immunity to corona while drinking alcohol does not eliminate corona in the body,” a medical expert was quoted saying.

Meanwhile, Iranian health ministry spokesman, Kianoush Jahanpour, said 5,011 people have been poisoned from methanol, adding that some 90 people have lost their eyesight or are suffering eye damage from the alcohol poisoning.

Misinformation on social media

Due to overwhelming misinformation on social media, Iranian citizens resorted to consuming spurious alcohol in a bid to cure the deadly Wuhan coronavirus infection. Indiscriminate drinking accompanied by methanol poisoning has made thousands of people fall sick, killing nearly 700 Iranians.

The misinformation stemmed from a tabloid story published in early February which claimed that a British man cured himself of coronavirus infection by drinking whiskey with honey. Many believe that using alcohol-based sanitizer to ward off germs is akin to drinking alcohol to cure coronavirus infection.

Consumption of alcohol is banned in Iran

Consumption of alcohol is banned in the Islamic Republic of Iran. It is mandatory for manufacturers of methanol to add artificial colour to their products so the public can differentiate it from ethanol.

Bootleggers, however, add bleach to these products such that it dilutes the artificial colour. Due to a growing demand for alcohol, bootleggers often sell methanol to its customers instead of ethanol. This explains the steep rise in cases of methanol poisoning.

Methanol cannot be smelled or tasted in drinks. It causes delayed organ and brain damage. Symptoms include chest pain, nausea, hyperventilation, blindness and even coma.

The Islamic Republic of Iran has been largely affected by the Wuhan coronavirus pandemic. Reportedly, 91,000 people had been affected while over 5,806 lives had been lost.



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