While the entire world is busy combatting the rapidly expanding coronavirus pandemic, there are some people who are still not ready to get out of their religious sentiments even during such vulnerable times when the country is in a dire need to be united against the COVID-19. With dozens of videos on TikTok featuring Muslims claiming that Coronavirus can’t do any harm to them as they regularly pray to their God, a video of a Muslim cleric is circulating on social media, in which a Bengali Maulvi is demanding a virus from Allah that kills 50 crore people in India in one go.
In this video, the maulana is saying in Bengali, referring to riots in Delhi- “recently I have got the news that mosques are being set on fire, mosques are being burnt for the last two days. I think something is going to happen within a month. May Allah accept our prayers. May Allah send such a terrible virus to India that ten to twenty to fifty crore people die in India. Am I saying something wrong? It is absolutely blissful.” After that, the crowd present there applauds the Naulvi’s statement.
He also said that he does not mind whether he will die or survive but he will surely take Hindus with him. The cleric has been identified as Abbas Siddiqui, and reportedly the video is from 26th February. Which means he made the comments when the Coronavirus had already hit India and govt had already started taking steps to combat it.
This is the same cleric who had earlier threatened to block Kolkata airport if the Citizenship Amendment Act is not revoked in West Bengal.
The video came at a time when an FIR has been lodged against seven Tablighis including Maulana Saad of Tablighi Jamaat in Nizamuddin in Delhi. Recently, after the Islamic religious event of Tablighi Jamaat Markaz that was held in Delhi’s Nizamuddin area, many Muslims from various parts of the country were involved in the event that created a stir across the country.
Meanwhile, a video of Tablighi Jamaat Chief Mohammad Saad had also come to notice in which he was saying, “The tricks and schemes of those who do not believe in Allah have come to stop Muslims from making excuses to save them from the disease. He has got an idea to stop and disperse the Muslims so that this can sit forever in the mind that do not go near anyone, do not sit with anyone or else they’ll get the sickness. Today, if the illness of Muslims changes due to this disease, then the disease will end but we will lose respect.”
Saad has added further in the video, “The disease will change but the values of your masseur, sitting together, eating in a plate and its effects never add in view of issues. This is a program designed to create suspicion among Muslims and to end their love, a program has been made that this excuse is good from separating Muslims from Muslims.”
The Tablighi Jamaat’s emir Maulana Saad works in about 190 countries around the world. It has thousands of members. The Markaz has caused severe damage to the country during the health crisis in the country due to coronavirus.
In an audio Saad was heard saying, “Where will you run away from death, death is going away with you. Therefore, on this occasion keep your wisdom and understanding. Do not just leave the prayers in the doctor’s wards, leave meetings. Why don’t you believe in 70 thousand angles? When Allah-tallah set the disease, how can I survive with any doctor or medicine? What will I do when 70 thousand angles could not save me?”
Saad was found spreading the rumour among the people of muslim community not to believe that if they meet in the mosque, the disease will spread. He sai that if the muslims will be present in the mosques, Allah tala will present the angles in this time.
Delhi police have registered FIR against 6 other organizers of Markaz including Mohammad Saad. However, Maulana Saad is reported missing since March 28.
While the world is in a dire need of face masks and other medical equipment because of the Wuhan Coronavirus pandemic which is spreading rapidly across the boundaries, China has stockpiled more than 2 billion surgical masks and essential medical equipment that can meet the shortage of worldwide personal protective equipment.
As per reports, two billion masks and 25 million pieces of personal protective equipment (PPE) were imported by China from Australia and other countries between the months of January and March.
A report of Daily Mail Australia suggested that a Chinese government report detailing its foreign trade for the first two months of the year has uncovered that revealed China witnessed a rapid growth in imports of commodities and key consumer goods that consists of 2.46 billion medical supply items. That included masks, gloves, hand sanitizer, hazmat suits, ventilators, and other equipment.
When the Wuhan Coronavirus was at its peak in China, the Chinese government went on a global campaign to recruit the Chinese owned companies in foreign countries to raid stocks of the items.
While Australia’s first COVID-19 patient arrived in Australia from China on January 19, the virus had only just begun to spread globally when the big buy-up began.
As per reports, the national customs in China inspected billions of items between January 24 and February 29. It facilitated the rapid entry of supplies by scrapping custom clearance protocol for “epidemic prevention and control materials”.
This came after news.com.au revealed that a Chinese property company in Australia named Greenland shipped more millions of pieces of masks, gloves and essential supplies. The luxury real estate giant Greenland sent the bulk of medical supplies to China after redeploying it’s Sydney staff from their responsibilities and sent them to a medical shopping spree. China has 20% stakes in the company Greenland. According to the same media house, another company Risland Australia sent 90 tonnes of masks and essential supplies in mid-February.
News.com.au also claimed that Chinese packaging company Crown win is now targeting Australian businesses and offering them hundreds or thousands of masks in bulk sales.
The cases of COVID-19 in India has almost doubled in just four days. A large portion of this sudden spike is attributed to the Nizamuddin Markaz cluster of Tablighi Jamaat in New Delhi, where thousands of people, including foreigners, gathered and stayed this month and fanned out in different parts of the country to carry out Chilla (proselytising) activities. While India is fast emerging as the biggest victim of Tablighi Jamaat’s transgressions, AAP MLA Amanatullah Khan has taken to Twitter to defend the Tablighi Jamaat chief Maulana Saad, who is accused of instigating the Muslims to congregate and stay at Markaz Nizamuddin, trashing all coronavirus-related warnings of social distancing and defying a ban on large gatherings.
Amanatullah Khan has also slammed Union Minister of Minority Affairs, Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi and the Governor of Kerala, Arif Mohammad Khan by calling them ‘Dalal’ (pimps) in his tweet.
Respectfully addressing Maulana Saad as “Saheb”, the AAP leader tweeted in Hindi: “Ab Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi aur Arif Mohammad Khan jaise dalal batayenge ki Nizamuddin Markaz kya hota hain aur Maulana Saad Saheb jaise bujurg kya hain…”, roughly translated as, “now pimps like Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi and Arif Mohammad Khan will now teach us about Maulana Saad Saheb’s greatness… Maulana Saad Saheb spreads love and peace in the entire world”.
It is pertinent to note here, that both Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi and Arif Mohammad Khan had earlier in the day slammed the Tablighi Jamaat for the gross negligence. While Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi said that it committed a “Talibani crime” by allowing gatherings at its Nizammudin centre or Markaz in the capital, the Kerala Governor had hit out at the Muslim body, refusing to acknowledge its members as religious scholars.
Probably irked by this, the AAP MLA through his tweet insinuated that people like Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi and Arif Mohammad Khan have given a communal colour to Coronavirus. “In jaise logo ne Corona ko bhi Muslim bana diye”, (people like them have linked Corona to Muslims).
Snapshot of Amanatulla Khan’s original Tweet which was deleted
The AAP MLA had deleted the above tweet, only to retweet again after a few minutes with some changes in the text. But Khan has no qualms about his impudent remarks as his subsequent tweet was equally tendentious and partial.
Amanatulla Khan’s subsequent Tweet
The AAP leader has many times in the past been in news for his provocative and biased statements. Be it the recent Delhi anti-Hindu riots or the Jamia or Shaheen Bagh protests, Amanatullah Khan has always been in the forefront to consolidate the Muslim votebank for his party.
While more and more coronavirus cases in the country are being traced to the religious gathering in Delhi of the Islamic missionary sect Tablighi Jamaat, a hunt is on for its leader Maulana Saad Kandhalvi, last seen on March 28.
Maulana Saad has been charged by the police over allegations that he encouraged people to congregate and stay at Markaz Nizamuddin, trashing all coronavirus-related warnings of social distancing and defying a ban on large gatherings. He allegedly ignored two police notices to vacate the building.
Nizamuddin Markaz has recently emerged as the Coronavirus hotspot with several of the attendees being tested positive for the Wuhan Coronavirus also known as COVID-19. In what could be termed as a massive effort undertaken by the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) in coordination with states, until now, as many as 9000 Tablighi Jamaat workers and their primary contacts have been traced and placed in quarantine across the country in view of the coronavirus infection. Out of these 9000 people, 1306 are foreign nationals and the rest are Indians.
Punya Salila Srivastava, a joint secretary in the Union Home Ministry, told reporters during a daily briefing that out of about 2000 such Tablighi Jamaat members in Delhi, 1804 have been shifted to quarantine centres while 334 symptomatic persons have been admitted to hospitals.
— PIB India ?? #StayHome #StaySafe (@PIB_India) April 2, 2020
About 400 COVID-19 positive cases found whose epidemiological linkage can be traced to the Tablighi Jamaat cluster.
Meanwhile, the Delhi Police Special Branch has identified and quarantined 275 foreign nationals, who have been holed up in various mosques after attending a Tablighi Jamaat congregation in the Nizamuddin area.
Similarly, the Uttar Pradesh police have, in as less than 48 hours, tracked down 292 foreign nationals, who were allegedly on different Jamaat trips in various cities in Uttar Pradesh. The foreign nationals were reportedly staying in various Mosques in different parts of the state.
According to a report by Times of India, out of these 292, 57 had attended the Tablighi Jammat event at Nizamuddin in Delhi while the rest were preaching at different places in the state.
On Wednesday, UP Police identified 218 foreign nationals, who had come to Uttar Pradesh at different stages on tourist visas but some of these foreigners joined the Tablighi Jamaat at Nizamuddin Markaz.
Police have seized the passports of these foreigners and have got them quarantined. Along with this, they are being investigated. The Police have also filed an FIR against people who provided shelter to foreigners.
They also registered 23 FIRs against over 100 foreigners who had violated visa rules and participated in Tablighi Jamaat activities in the state. They said over 100 foreigners, who are at present under quarantine, have been booked under the Foreigners Act as they were indulging in religious activities.
The cases of COVID-19 in India has almost doubled in just four days. This sudden spike is attributed to the Nizamuddin Markaz cluster of Tablighi Jamaat in New Delhi, where thousands of people, including foreigners, gathered and stayed this month and fanned out in different parts of the country to carry out Chilla (proselytising) activities.
The attendees from the event are spread all over namely – Karnataka: 64 quarantined, Tamil Nadu: 981 of 1500 attendees traced – 45 tested positive, Telangana: 1300 attendees with 6 deaths and 15 positives, Andhra Pradesh: 626 of the 806 attendees traced (8 have tested positive), Andaman: 9 out of 10 positive cases attendees, UP 157 attendees of which 14 quarantined, Jammu & Kashmir has identified 6 attendees. All states are doing contact tracing and quarantining all attendees.
India’s total COVID-19 cases, as on April 2, 18:34 pm, stand at 1965 with 50 deaths.
‘Independent journalist’ and former senior executive editor of Kapil Sibal’s Tiranga TV, Seemi Pasha, has decided that the best course of action in light of the malicious actions of the Tablighi Jamaat is to spread conspiracy theories against the Central and State governments. If Seemi Pasha is to be believed, it is unthinkable that people who spat on doctors in order to infect them with the Wuhan Coronavirus would have a disproportionate number of infected individuals within its ranks.
On the 1st of April, Seemi Pasha said on Twitter that it ‘feels’ like the governments were scapegoating Tablighi Jamaat to “release data about positive cases that it had been holding back”. She declared that she refused to believe all the positive cases linked to Tablighi Jamaat were actually linked to Tablighi Jamaat.
Seemi Pasha’s tweet spreading ridiculous conspiracy theory
Seemi Pasha’s conspiracy theory is, of course, just that. And unlike a few conspiracy theories, which are based on a solid body of facts, this one is just a poor attempt to deflect attention from the malicious conduct of the Tablighi Jamaat. In order for us to believe that Coronavirus positive cases were being withheld by the central and state governments, then we must also believe that all the doctors in all the hospitals across all the states of India are part of this giant coverup. We must also believe that non-BJP governments including certain Congress and ‘secular governments’ are part of this giant coverup as well.
Furthermore, we are also expected to believe that Tablighi Jamaat itself is also part of this conspiracy to frame itself as the Islamic Missionary organization at no point has attempted to contest the fact that its members are infected with the Wuhan Coronavirus. Also, the speed and ease with which the virus spreads from person to person, it is only natural that people a huge number of people who were part of the same Islamic event and staying within the same building got infected with the virus. It would have required only a single infected individual to infect all others with the virus.
Also, it is not just in India that the Tablighi Jamaat has become a super-spreader in. Members of the Islamic missionary organization has spread the virus across the entire South Asian region including the Indian subcontinent. Pakistan, Malaysia, Thailand and other countries have registered cases of the Wuhan Coronavirus after the infected people attended on the events of Tablighi Jamaat. Even in Palestine, which is at quite a distance from India, to put it mildly, recorded the first cases of Coronavirus after two people traveled there after attending a Tablighi Jamaat event in Pakistan.
The conspiracy theory conjured by Seemi Pasha is the perfect demonstration of the convoluted mental gymnastics one has to engage in to absolve the Tablighi Jamaat of all sins and find some way to blame the Central and State governments of India for the fiasco that has unfolded. Furthermore, it also demonstrates that individuals of a secular bent, like Seemi Pasha, will leave no stones unturned in order to shield Islamists from fair criticism.
Launching a scathing attack on the Congress party over its statements during the coronavirus crisis in the country, Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Thursday slammed the Congress, saying it is playing ‘petty politics’ over the novel coronavirus outbreak.
Union Home Minister Amit Shah also asked the Congress party to think about national interest, instead of misleading the people.
Under PM @narendramodi’s leadership, India’s efforts to fight Coronavirus are being lauded domestically and globally. 130 crore Indians are united to defeat COVID-19. Yet, Congress is playing petty politics. High time they think of national interest and stop misleading people.
Home Minister Shah said that the Congress was playing politics at a time when India under the leadership of PM Modi is being praised both domestically and globally for the efforts to fight the Chinese coronavirus.
Amit Shah’s comments came hours after Congress president Sonia Gandhi had attacked the government for the “unplanned” implementation of the countrywide lockdown while claiming that it has caused “chaos and pain” to millions.
Addressing a meeting of the Congress Working Committee (CWC) through video conferencing, Sonia Gandhi had called for the availability of all necessary equipment for medical professionals. She had also claimed that the onus lies on the government to ensure that the spread of infection and casualties are not caused owing to lack of infrastructure or preparedness.
The Congress chief said the country was in the midst of unprecedented health and humanitarian crisis which can be overcome only if everyone acts in solidarity.
India is under lockdown to arrest the spread of Wuhan Coronavirus. Inter-state travel has been halted. Even courts are not accepting cases unless absolutely necessary. This is for the safety and well being of all of us. But imagine this. Apparently, people had to regularly leave behind the famed healthcare system of Kerala and seek treatment in the neighbouring Karnataka. With inter-state travel now blocked due to the Coronavirus lockdown, people of Kerala are facing enormous hardships. Hence this order from the Hon. High Court of Kerala.
Live Law article
One of the handfuls of positives about a crisis is that it helps cut through clouds of confusion and see things clearly. For instance, the Nizamuddin fiasco revealed a vast network of foreign preachers who openly flout visa rules, take part in huge gatherings in the heart of the national capital and then fan out to every corner of India.
Similarly, the situation on the inter-state border between Kerala and Karnataka has lifted the covers on another pile of confusion. For a lot of people, it might come as a shock that people actually have to leave Kerala and seek healthcare in other, better-managed states. Years of media drumbeat about Kerala’s great healthcare have come to nought.
Remember that the people of Kerala, who have to seek treatment in other states, are the biggest victims of these decades of media drumbeat. The drumbeat has put their suffering out of focus and destroyed all incentive for the state government to actually do something for its people. Why would politicians care if they know they will get good PR?
Given that Kerala is currently on edge with hundreds of cases of Wuhan Coronavirus, it might surprise you to learn that as of Feb 14, 2020, Kerala had “successfully fought and contained” the problem.
Quartz India article
By early March, the news of Kerala’s momentous victory had spread worldwide, earning praise from a BBC panel.
The Week Article
Meanwhile, the virus, which cares neither for political agendas nor media sentiments, kept working its way. Reality kept trickling in. The numbers kept ticking upwards. The state government hurried up and announced a package of Rs 20,000 crore.
Then something unprecedented happened. For the first time in years, cracks appeared in the PR machine of the Kerala government. People actually began asking if the money was really there and where it would come from. Under scrutiny for the first time ever, the myth of the state government’s “20,000 crore package” crumbled.
Meanwhile, the politicians of Kerala, from both major formations in the state, continue to thrive on strange accusations against the Central government in Delhi. Fantastic source-based stories appear, about foreign aid for the pandemic. India has generally been refusing aid from other sovereign countries since the time of the 2004 tsunami, including at the time of 2018 Kerala floods. Old myths about foreign aid from UAE are dug up and circulated. Most ironically, by folks who just had to go to Geneva to bring help at the time of Kerala floods. Presumably, because it would have been impossible to contact people in Geneva using either the internet or the telephone.
The people of Kerala continue to suffer, being offered ideology instead of healthcare.
We know that India doesn’t have the best healthcare system. This is a problem hardly limited to Kerala. There are numerous difficulties running a country of our size, with its widespread poverty. But it certainly doesn’t help when a state government spends its time taking jibes at others, say Uttar Pradesh, instead of trying to improve the lives of its own people.
For those who knew better, it was always apparent that Kerala govt’s propaganda on healthcare was a sham. In fact, trucks from Kerala had been dumping toxic medical waste in Karnataka and Tamil Nadu for years. This is simply not what a good neighbour does, let alone a famously literate one.
There will be difficult choices now. Should Karnataka open its borders to people desperately seeking medical help? On one hand, how can we say no to fellow citizens in need? On the other, the lockdown is absolutely crucial to contain the spread of the virus.
In the current fight against the virus, we are all in it together. All the way from the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir in the north to the state of Kerala in the south. We have to look out for each other. And a bit of humility on all sides will help.
Will the situation with Wuhan Coronavirus finally blow the lid off the Kerala government’s propaganda on its ‘famous’ healthcare? For the sake of the people of Kerala, let us hope so.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi today held a meeting with Chief Ministers of states through video conferencing, taking note of the situation in states because of COVID-19 pandemic. Home minister Amit Shah and Defense minister Rajnath Singh were also present in the video conference.
Prime minister Modi said that in the next few weeks testing, tracing, isolation and quarantine areas should remain in focus. He stressed on the necessity of maintaining the supply of essential medical products, availability of raw materials for the manufacture of medicines and medical equipment.
PM Modi said in next few weeks, testing, tracing,isolation&quarantine should remain focus areas.He highlighted necessity of maintaining supply of essential medical products,availability of raw material for the manufacture of medicines & medical equipment: Prime Minister’s Office https://t.co/8XNvKL5v4c
Prime minister Narendra Modi mentioned the event of Nizamuddin Markaz saying that he was informed by the Union Health secretary about the rise in cases in India. He was apprised of the spread of cases from Nizamuddin Markaz and the preparations to tackle the situation arising out of the further spread of the virus.
Union Health Secretary apprised dignitaries of rise in cases in India, the spread of cases from #NizamuddinMarkaz, preparations to tackle medical cases arising out of further spread of the virus: Prime Minister’s Office on PM’s meeting with Chief Ministers via video conferencing pic.twitter.com/DTSZzb2lHK
Chief Ministers mentioned their efforts of maintaining social distancing, tracking suspects, identifying and quarantining suspect cases that have arisen due to the Nizamuddin Markaz event, containing community transmission, boosting up of medical infrastructure and strengthening the medical workforce.
While the CMs discussed the issues of mobilising financial and medical resources amidst the lockdown to contain the outbreak, PM Modi stressed on working on a war footing to identify the virus hotspots, encircle them and ensure that it does not spread.
PM Modi held this video conference in view of the growing positive cases of COVID-19 which took around 8 weeks to reach 1,000 but only 4 days to near the 2000 mark.
PM Modi had previously discussed the COVID-19 pandemic with the heads of SAARC countries through video conference where he introduced emergency COVID-19 funds for SAARC countries and pledged an amount of 10 million US dollars to the fund.
Till now 1965 active cases have been reported in India. 50 deaths have been reported so far while 151 are reported recovered.
The current wave of COVID-19 pandemic could not have come at a worse time for the global economy which was already showing signs of slowdown & recession. Even the growth engines of the world; China and India were battling economic fatigue and declining growth. Nearly every country across the world is forced to devote precious resources to fight this pandemic which includes long durations of public lockdowns. This will further stress the already fragile economy of these countries.
On 30th March, Richard Kozul-Wright, the Director of Globalization and Development Strategies at UN’s Trade and Development Agency (UNCTAD) gave his reading of the economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. “Even so the world economy will go into recession this year with a predicted loss of global income in the trillions of dollars. This will spell serious trouble for developing countries, with the likely exception of China and the possible exception of India.” According to UNCTAD, “the consequences of a combined health pandemic and a global recession will be catastrophic for many developing countries and halt their progress towards the Sustainable Development Goals.” It also asked for a $2.5 trillion coronavirus crisis package for developing countries.
Indian economy is not expected to remain decoupled from the global recession and is likely to face severe challenges. On 27th March, Moody’s Investor’s Services estimated India’s growth rate for 2020 to reduce to 2.5%, down from its earlier estimate of 5.3%. Should the 21-day lockdown extend any further, there is bound to be another revision, According to Arun Singh, Chief Economist at Dun & Bradstreet India, “As lockdowns are imposed in other global manufacturing hubs, besides China, the extent of impairment to global supply chain and global growth is likely to increase”.
Clearly, the current crisis is unprecedented it its scale and reach and has acted as a major disruptor globally.
Technology at the Forefront of Fighting a Pandemic
As countries across the world struggled to contain the virus, the deaths and infections continued mounting rapidly. On 31st March, according to Worldometers, the number of COVID-19 cases crossed 9,50,000 while the total number of deaths amounted to more than 48,000. However, this number is highly disputed as it is widely believed that China has hidden its true numbers from global scrutiny.
China has officially owned upto approximately 81,000 cases and 3,300 deaths. However, photos coming out of Wuhan show thousands of urns daily being handed over by seven crematoriums as part of the traditional grave tending festival, which makes one believe that the actual death count in Wuhan alone may be in tens of thousands.
Technology, especially the Internet of Things could be used as a major tool to fight the spread of such pandemics and contain it with minimal economic loss and disruption.
The Internet of things is a system of interrelated computing devices, mechanical and digital machines provided with unique identifiers and the ability to transfer data over a network without requiring human-to-human or human-to-computer interaction. Data is collected by sensors installed on end user devices which is sent to cloud servers for analytics and decision making. Ubiquitous Connectivity is the fundamental feature of IoT. Medical IoT or MIoT is a combination of Communication, Medicine & Biology. It helps healthcare professionals to quickly identify & isolate the source of infection, prevent the infection to spread in the community and remotely treat the patients infected by the virus.
Identifying the Infection
An early detection system is the best way to control infections into graduating rapidly to pandemic proportions. However, urbanization presents its own sets of challenges to monitor and contain any pandemic. In 2019, a study at MIT had used mobile phone data to study the interplay between human mobility and dengue virus outbreaks during 2013 and 2014 in the complex urban environment of the city-state of Singapore. The results showed that human mobility is a major factor in the spread of vector-borne diseases such as dengue even on the short scale corresponding to intra-city distances. By focusing on the commuting patterns of people, it is possible to simulate models to find the spread of the disease. Health Workers can quickly focus on patient zero and identify everyone who has come into contact with the infected person and move to quarantine / isolate those persons. As COVID-19 has emerged from the Wuhan province of China, IoT tools such as Geographic Information System (GIS) could be used as an effective tool to curb the spread of pandemics by acting as an early warning system. Scanners at airports across the world could be used to monitor temperature and other symptoms.
Isolating the Infection
Identifying infected persons and then quickly quarantining them is the next step to control the pandemic. Artificial Intelligence enabled sensors and interconnected security cameras can be used by health care professionals to monitor and enforce patient compliance in real time. Geofencing devices with GPS can easily identify and track the movements of any patient under quarantine and prevent the spread of further community infection. In case of any emergency, driverless autonomous vehicles can be used to transport patients to a hospital and further reduce human to human interaction.
Patient Management
A smartphone-based application with P4 medicine requirements (Predictive, Preventative, Personalized, Participatory) can assist healthcare professionals. It will be connected to a centralized database hosted on Cloud which will be available to all the healthcare professionals. It will contain the medical history, records of patients along with their diagnosis. Artificial Intelligence based diagnosis will provide real time accurate diagnosis & recommendations. This will enable healthcare professionals to mine the information which will help them to work more efficiently. The app will facilitate 2-way communications between the patient & his doctors, thereby leading to more efficient use of resources. It will ensure a long-term follow-up of patients and prevent any more infection in the community.
Wearable devices can monitor body temperature, heartbeat, blood pressure and other variables. They can provide doctors with the data required for diagnosis. This will also reduce the stress on hospitals which may be running short of beds for infected persons. As the patient is treated while he is in quarantine, the subsequent risk of further infection is greatly reduced. Drones could also be used to supply medicines and essentials, thereby reducing human interaction which would drastically reduce new infections. Fumigation of the patient carriers/ambulances can be done through robots.
The importance of connecting patients, registration, wearable device (could be phone app initially) for tracking, consultation, diagnosis, treatment, mapping, contact tracing and sharing of information in real time cannot be stressed more at this time which would all fall under the gambit of IoT.
Governance and Delivery
Patient management is not the only aspect of pandemic that the Government has to deal with lot of other aspects of day to day life covering the economy, governance, policing, supply chain. The elderly care, daily wage labor, the students, the agriculture, the industry all have to be taken care.
Machine learning can be used to find new drugs for the treatment of the virus. Food Stores invariably face a huge demand as people tend to indulge in panic buying and stock up on items. This causes a severe stress on the supply-chain of these stores. If these stores invest in digital payments, e-commerce, they will be better prepared for disruptions. 3D printing can be used to quickly manufacture hospital rooms and other medical equipment to ease the stress on healthcare facilities.
Educational institutes can use Blockchain based applications to keep track of their students, their learning and also issue digital certificates. Governments around the world can use location tracking data gleaned from the smartphones to prevent any large scale gathering of people and prevent community transmission of the virus during any outbreak. India is disbursing financial assistance to Aadhaar based bank accounts using Direct Benefit Transfer under Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Yojana (PMGKY).
Challenges in the Interconnected World
The key to Internet of Things is the vast number of interconnected devices on a network. As multiple countries around the world enforced a complete lockdown to contain the spread of the pandemic, companies asked their employees to work from home thereby reducing the spread of the infection. As a consequence, both data and voice traffic on networks shot up exponentially.
According to a report in the World Economic Forum, internet usage increased by as much as 50% in several countries. Tech news website ‘The Register’ reported that collaborative working platforms, such as Microsoft Teams and the video conference platform Zoom, were struggling to keep up with the increase in users’ demands. In USA, Verizon reported a surge of 22% in web and 25% voice traffic for March 12-19 week. Similar figures were reported by most ISPs around the world. Streaming platforms like Amazon, Netflix and YouTube too reported a major surge in their traffic.
Europe which bore the blunt of the pandemic in countries like Italy, Spain, France, United Kingdom etc, also saw a major surge in internet demand and consumption. This forced the European Commission’s Internal Market Commissioner, Thierry Breton to issue a public demand for help “Streaming platforms, telecom operators and users, we all have a joint responsibility to take steps to ensure the smooth functioning of the internet during the battle against the virus propagation”. As a result, YouTube, Netflix, and Amazon Prime have decided to reduce streaming quality of their services in Europe, so that their services do not chock the networks as millions of people stuck in home consume more content online.
In India, TSPs saw a 10% surge in web traffic as people started to work from home. This resulted in network degradation and drop in voice calls. As the networks seemed to be getting overwhelmed, the Cellular Operators of India (CoAI) had to step in and issue a note on 21st March stating “We have already written to the streaming platforms to undertake technical measures to ease the pressure on infrastructure. We believe this will be more effective if a similar communication is sent from DoT to these firms offering streaming video services”.
India needs a quick overhaul of its infrastructure which would mean release of additional spectrum by the government to the TSPs, fast tracking the fiber rollout, creation of more WiFi hotspots, improving Virtual Private Network (VPN) connections etc. Average data usage per subscriber is expected to rise sharply in India and the stakeholders need to reimagine the network traffic management. If the existing infrastructure is not upgraded quickly, it may lead to a complete collapse of the network.
Safety in the Interconnected World
As organizations across the world ramp up their operations and strive to serve their consumers, they are also faced with increased cyber security threat. Cybercriminals can exploit the weaknesses and vulnerabilities to exploit the connected devices and the network itself. This presents a challenge to the cybersecurity teams who must learn to evolve with the evolving threat perception.
As work from home increases, users who don’t have the same quality of security ecosystem, as their office, may find themselves to be the target of directed phishing, smishing, vishing and ransomware attacks. Home WiFi systems usually suffer from low degree of protection and may pose as an opportunity for hackers.
In 2016, the Mirai botnet had compromised millions of devices including connected cameras. Across India, local governments are increasingly using connected cameras for security purposes. In 2017, the WannaCry ransomware attack had a crippling effect on hospitals & interconnected devices. Criminals wearing medical masks during a pandemic may be able to overcome facial recognition systems.
On 12th March, a major cyber-attack hit Brno University Hospital in the Czech Republic. The hospital which is one of the largest COVID-19 testing facility in Czech Republic was hit by a ransomware attack forcing the hospital to cancel its operations and shift patients to another hospital. This was a major disruption in the fight against COVID-19 as the hospital was responsible for testing blood samples from whole of Central Europe. Cybersecurity experts have also discovered an android application named Covid-19 which claims to track maps from Johns Hopkins University, whereas it contains spying malware which tracks mobile users in Libya.
Cybersecurity professionals have identified another ransomware called CovidLock which directs users to a website called coronavirusaa[.]site. The ransomware locks down the infected device until a ransom of $100 is paid in Bitcoins. It also steals all the information stored on the infected device.
Hackers and cybercriminals can exploit the public fear during a pandemic by offering them services which may have malware associated with them. Critical and sensitive facilities like hospitals & medical devices can be targeted by these criminals as the hackers may feel safe during the ensuing chaos. Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) can be used to cause a breakdown in critical services and exact a heavy price.
In India, cybercriminals targeted PM Modi’s PM Cares Relief Fund by creating fake Unified Payment Interfaces (UPIs). This led to an official warning from the government’s Press Information Bureau (PIB). As cyberattacks continued, Lt General Rajesh Pant, the National Cyber Security Coordinator in PMO issued a strict warning “our cyber police will hunt out these scums from under whichever rocks they are hiding and bring them to justice.”
Managing Disruption during a Global Pandemic
The current health crisis which has gripped the world can be seen as an inflection point between digital transformation and businesses. It has also impressed upon various stakeholders to invest more robustly in digital technologies. It is also a challenge to the security planners who have to guard against security threats and also ensure business continuity. Hospitals must have emergency backup systems which ensure seamless continuity of its operations and database. Rogue nations and intelligence agencies who attempt attacks on healthcare facilities must be warned of immediate kinetic consequences.
Standardized protocols, regulatory controls will allow seamless sharing of information and data between various devices. This will help in managing security breaches and dealing quickly with them. Adoption of universal standards will result in faster and more efficient response to any future disaster or pandemic.
The socioeconomic disruption caused by COVID-19 will be a lasting one and poses a challenge to planners and leaders globally. Because of interconnected trade and business any future pandemic may spread rapidly globally and infect millions. Some countries may be less geared to tackle the crisis than others. But with challenges come opportunities. There is a pressing need for quicker 5G rollout in India. This is also an opportune time to test driverless cars on Indian roads when traffic is not there and to use drones for delivery & monitoring. Marrying Human Intelligence and labor with IoT to find solutions is the way to go. Necessity is the mother of inventions and hopefully, public-private partnership can lead to many new innovations. Without a collaborative approach, any global approach to deal with any future pandemic will be compromised.
(This article has been co-authored by Krishna Kant Sharma and Ishita Sen)
The times are testing as the world battles the pandemic of Coronavirus also known as COVID-19 which has created havoc globally. The governments all over the world are in dilemma as regards curtailing the spread of the virus is concerned. Social Distancing and complete lockdown seem to be the only two guaranteed effective mechanisms to cope with this spread. The deadly virus spread has become a matter of grave concern especially for nations like Italy; who has reported around 12000 deaths till date. Even the advanced countries like the United States, where the number of infected patients has risen to as close as 1,88,647 seems to be in fix as to how better contain the further increase of infected patients. The COVID-19 virus seems to be on a rampage, claiming almost 43,522 lives so far and a sum total of around 8 million people infected.
While the world is battling the pandemic and the government’s hyper-focused on saving their citizens and the economy, there is one nation that claims to be stable when the rest of the world is still experiencing the backlash of the virus. That country, without an iota of doubt, is the People’s Republic Of China.
Timeline Of COVID-19 Spread
The very first instance of anyone being affected by the COVID-19 virus dates back to 17th November 2019 which was reported by the South China Morning Post on 13 March. This is in contrast to the WHO report that says the first confirmed case of Novel Coronavirus in China was detected on December 8. By the time it was the second week of December, the Wuhan doctors were finding cases that the virus was spreading from one human to another. There was a steady rise in the number of cases affected by what came to be dubbed as “pneumonia cases with unknown cause” by the Chinese Authorities. It was reported on December 21 that the staff that was “suspected of contracting pneumonia” has been quarantined. By late December, China saw an exponential rise in the number of cases.
It is very intriguing to note that one Dr. Li Wenliang started warning the medical fraternity of a possible outbreak of a SARS-like illness urging the community to use protective measure against it. By now, the spread of the disease had made it to the media reports outside of China and the Wuhan Municipal Commissioner was forced to give a public statement wherein he claimed that, declares “Investigation so far as not found an obvious human to human transmission and no medical staff infection.” However, on 1st January 2020, Wuhan Public Security Bureau issued summons to Dr. Li and accused him of ‘misdemeanor’ and spreading rumors. Two days later, he signed an acknowledgement promising not to commit further ‘unlawful acts’. Seven other people were also arrested on the same charges and their fate is unknown.
According to a report by the New York Times on 6th of January, 59 people in the city of Wuhan had been sickened by the illness in China so far. By January 8th the spread had been rapid but the Chinese authorities continued with the official stance that no case of human to human transmission of the virus has been found. However, China claims to have identified the virus, yet the government authorities continued to say that the spread is not contagious. Even the WHO in its statement said that “Preliminary identification of a novel virus in a short period of time is a notable achievement and demonstrates China’s increased capacity to manage new outbreaks.” The WHO advised against any travel and trade restrictions on China.
Meanwhile, on 10th of January, Dr Li, who was the first medical practitioner to have alerted about the spread of SARS-like disease is found symptomatic of Novel Coronavirus and two days later was hospitalized. The doctors in China continue to find transmissions among family members contradicting an official statement from the city health commission. However, the Wuhan Health Officials continued to say that there are no reports to the contrary that the virus spreads through person to person contact. In fact, a theory emerged that the spread of the virus is occurring because of the bat or animals that are being sold at the Wuhan Sea Food Market; stating that humans are catching it from the animals.
On 13th of January, Thailand reports its first case of Coronavirus; a 61-year-old Chinese woman who was visiting from Wuhan. This is the first case found outside of China. Thailand’s Ministry of Public Health said: “The woman had not visited the Wuhan Sea Food Market and had, in fact, visited a different smaller market in Wuhan who came down with a fever on Jan 5.” A day later, WHO’s official twitter handle said, “Preliminary investigation conducted by the Chinese authorities have found no clear evidence of human to human transmission of the novel coronavirus identified in Wuhan China” This comes almost 5-6 weeks late after human to human transmission was already reported in Wuhan.
By this time, millions asymptomatic oblivious Chinese Citizens have already travelled across the world, thus spreading the disease. On Jan 15th, Japan reported its first Coronavirus case. The Officials state that “The person had not visited any seafood market in China. It is possible that he had close contact with another patient with lung inflammation while in China.”
This is when the Wuhan officials change their tune, saying “Possibility of human to human contact cannot be ruled out but the risk of transmission is low”. Given this timeline, it is sufficient enough to say that Chinese authorities suppressed the facts and withheld vital information regarding the danger of the spread of this disease. The People’s Republic of China endangered the lives of 9 billion people; which is the entire human population in existence on Earth.
As of today, the data already discussed above has successfully decrypted China’s lies regarding the spread of COVID-19.
Coronavirus: China’s Bio Warfare
One may ponder as to what has biological warfare got to do with the COVID-19 pandemic. Well, the answer lies within. China has been at forefront in research in bio science. That’s why for the to establish bio safety labs across China comes as no surprise.
Let’s discuss a very interesting anecdote reported by the Yahoo News on March 30th.
A Chinese biologist was held by U.S Customs And Border Protection Agents at the Detroit Metro Airport on charges of carrying biological hazard of three vials; suspicious in nature named as ‘Antibodies’ written in Chinese. The report further states that “Inspection of the writing on vials and the stated recipient led inspection personnel to believe the materials contained within the vials may be viable Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) and Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS)”
An unclassified report by the FBI which is written by the Chemical and Biological Intelligence Unit of FBI’s Weapons of Mass Destruction states that they have assessed those vials to contain viruses like SARS and E.Coli. In January of 2018, a Harvard Head of the Department was also arrested by the US authorities under the charges of having close ties with these Chinese scientists who were undertaking this research and importing hazardous and undocumented materials in and out of US. These Chinese scientists were apprehended on charges of espionage of suspected biological pathogens that are hazardous in nature into bio laboratories in China.
A curious case of an unidentified report, which was later pulled down by the Chinese Authorities also renders confusion in the mind of a reader. The said report was written by leading scientists Batao Xiao and Lei Xiao of South China University, Guangzhou who claimed that the virus was slipped from a laboratory situated near the Wuhan Sea Food Market. The published paper stated that it was the only lab in the vicinity of the spread of the disease. Because the patients who contracted the disease were all the residents of the area, nearby. It further claimed that the virus in its current form is a modified version of Coronavirus. The COVID-19 virus hails from the same family as that of SARS and HIV.
There have been instances in the past that because of careless attitude in handling the pathogens, China has been home to spread of many epidemics. Therefore, a mere two months before the spread of COVIS-19, the publication of the report by the FBI about the espionage of pathogens from the US to China makes a compelling case. Some of the scientists have however denied that the virus in its current form has natural origins and didn’t slip out as a result of mishandling in bio testing in labs. There still remains a good amount of scientist who claims it to be otherwise. It is hard to decide who is to be believed.
Whatever the case may be, the role of China in mishandling the situation cannot be ruled out.
China and Coronavirus: The Deception
The Chinese are the masters of deception. Even though the country is named the People’s Republic of China, it is anything but undemocratic and demonic misrule of communist leaders. The rule of the Chinese Communist Party is absolute and the stronghold of President Xi Jinping has become ironclad in recent years. The Chinese rule not with welfare policies but by way of autocratic propaganda. Therefore, it won’t be an exaggeration to say that Chinese rule is the best example of a propaganda-driven mockery of the state machinery.
Chinese citizen is merely a pawn for the government. The massacre of lacs of people under Mao’s rule is testament to that fact. The media is censored, to the extent that if anyone is found speaking even a word or merely questioning the PRC, immediate action is taken against them. There have been cases of hundreds of such journalists who dare spoke against the Chinese rule and were sentenced or either executed or their fate unknown. Therefore, censorship and misinformation seems to be very obvious face-saving tactic for the Chinese government.
In this case, despite initial findings by the Wuhan doctors, that Coronavirus spreads through human to human contact, the Wuhan Commissioner kept on insisting that reports don’t suggest that it is contagious. They continued to peddle the same narrative, thereby falsely reporting the seriousness of the disease. Moreover, the doctor who alerted the community regarding its spread, was later arrested on charges of spreading misinformation. The contradiction can be found wherein, the authorities maintained the stance that COVID-19 is not a case of person to person transmission as against their own medical staff was being quarantined showing signs of unidentified pneumonia as early as December 25. The question arises that if there was no person to person transmission of the disease why were people being quarantined?
Further cover-up can be found when an employee of one of the genomic company received a phone call from an official at Hubei official health commission ordering the company to stop testing samples from Wuhan related to the new disease and destroy all the existing samples. Why was the evidence destroyed? What material facts did China suppress by ordering shut down of research on a possible outbreak of a deadly disease? In order to balance it out one Tao Lina, public health expert, Former Official Expert With Shanghai Centre For disease control and prevention told South China Warning Post, “I think we are (now) quite capable of killing it in the beginning phase given China’s disease control system, emergency handling capacity and clinical medicine support.”
As NYT report suggests, by the time, the situation could have been controlled, millions of residents of Wuhan had already fled the city, spreading the disease worldwide. Transmission had already occurred and the entire world was left vulnerable in the face of a pandemic outbreak. The cover-up by the Chinese Communist Party doesn’t stop here. In order to detach themselves from the responsibility, the Chinese created a very deceptive yet wonderfully charming campaign claiming that the citizens of China are being targeted and calling the virus “Chinese Virus” is racist in nature. Major liberal-minded population fell for the propaganda. On Feb 4 Mayor of Florence, Italy Dario Nardella urged residents to hug Chinese people to encourage them in the fight against coronavirus. Chinese society in Italy aimed at promoting friendship between two countries and called for respect for novel coronavirus during the street demonstration “I’m not a virus, I’m a human” eradicating the prejudice. Today, Italy is paying a huge price for falling prey to Chinese propaganda.
Furthermore, under the garb of sending aid to badly hit nations, China is exporting defective goods like masks and medicines. Needless to say, the so called aid is another attempt as a face saver and its pre- decided strategy to seize opportunity in the world.
What Can The World Do
This pandemic has left the world with two options. Either let China control the narrative and aid it in becoming the next Superpower or stop relying on China completely.
The economic meltdown on a global level because of this pandemic has been huge. Especially for nations like India, it’s a golden opportunity to increase cooperation with advanced nations like Japan, Vietnam, US and increase the capability of their own Pharmaceutical and Electronic sector, thereby curtailing the dependence on China.
The only way to defeat the dragon is by isolating it. If anything, this disastrous pandemic should be a wake-up call for world governments. The world is poised for a new world order which will be in tandem with Mother Nature and devoid of pollution fallout. Let us pledge again to make this beautiful planet livable and hope that wisdom prevails.
