Home Blog Page 5539

China deploys dozens of underwater drones in the Indian Ocean Region, Indian navy alerted: Report

OpIndia Staff
-
0
China deploys dozens of underwater drones in the Indian Ocean Region, Indian navy alerted: Report

China has reportedly deployed dozens of underwater drones, apart from the hydrographic survey and research ships. As per a report in The Times of India, the development has put the India Navy on alert. The concern of the security establishment is that while such surveys are undertaken for deep-sea mining and other commercial activities, they are also critical of the submarine and anti-submarine warfare operations.

As per a report in Forbes, China deployed a dozen “Sea Wing” underwater drones from specialist research vessel Xiangyanghong 06 in the Indian Ocean Region during mid-December before recovering them last month. These long-range Sea wing gliders made 3400 observations for the winter survey of the joint ocean and ecology research project that is run by the Chinese ministry of natural resources.

The official sources of Navy said that Navy constantly tracks the presence of Chinese research vessels in the IOR through P-8I long-range maritime patrol aircraft and warships on mission-based deployments.

An official quoted by the TOI report has clarified that at any given time there are four to five Chinese research vessels who map different parts of IOR. They collect oceanographic data on a daily basis about the physical operating environment like seawater temperature, salinity, and chlorophyll levels that useful for general navigation and submarine operations.

“If any such Chinese vessel enters India’s Exclusive Economic Zone which is 200 nautical miles from the coast and engages in any suspicious militant activity, it is chased away after warning”, said another official. Navy Chief Admiral Karambir Singh in the month of December had confirmed that the Navy forces had chased away Chinese oceanic research vessel Shi Yan-1 after it was found indulging in suspicious activity near the strategically located Andaman and Nicobar archipelago.

China has been rapidly expanding in the Indian Ocean region with its naval footprint and hunting more logistic bases after establishing its first overseas base at Djibouti in the Horn of Africa and Naval turnaround facilities at Karachi. China has been witnessed sending both nuclear as well as conventional submarines to the region under the guise of Anti-piracy patrols.

Watch these videos of Covidiots that can keep you entertained during the national Coronavirus Lockdown

OpIndia Staff
-
0
Watch these videos of Covidiots that can keep you entertained during the national Coronavirus Lockdown

It’s been more than two months since a novel strain of coronavirus popped up in Wuhan, China, and proceeded to spread to countries across the world. And as that’s happened, panic has continued to disseminate throughout the world. As the deadly Coronavirus is spreading through communities in many countries now, the best way to fight this spread is for everyone to practice social distancing. For this reason, many countries including India has gone in for a complete lockdown.

Now that we’re all cooped up in our respective houses, what are we supposed to do with this abundance of undifferentiated free time? Well, during this time, when social distancing has been put into effect, these videos might come to your rescue.

Twitter user Rahul Kr. Sr. going by the handle @BiharKaLal has shared a thread of ten videos with a caption: “A thread on the MOST DUMB PEOPLE OF THIS PLANET”, where Muslims are seen making bizarre excuses in the name of Islam to blatantly disregard the basic precautions advised amidst coronavirus outbreak. They are seen encouraging risky social behaviours in the name of Islam.

The first video begins with two people seen walking through a thoroughfare wearing masks. They bump into a friend and advise him to wear a mask amidst the Coronavirus outbreak. But that person arrogantly shrugs away the mask and instead takes out a Muslim skullcap from his pocket, puts it on and walks away.

While the government has time and again emphasised that social distancing is the only way to break the chain of infection caused by Coronavirus, a Muslim man in the second video argues with a media anchor how he would continue to go to Jama Masjid to offer Namaz. He asserts that religion is above human safety. He says: “Marne ke baad bhi upar hi jaana hain, toh koi accha kaam karte hue agar hamari pran nikal jaati hain toh isse acchi humare liye koi baat nahi hain”, roughly translated as “everyone has to die one day and go to heaven, so even if we die while we carry out this noble task we have no regrets”.

In the third video when two Muslim youths shake hands to greet each other, the third one standing there warns them against shaking hands to reduce the risk of contracting the coronavirus, which is said to be a highly contagious and spreads from person to person in close proximity. The two youths, disregarding the advice, say that Islam has taught them that shaking hands can only spread love not coronavirus.

Similarly in the fourth one, a youth warns two others not to drink water out of the same bottle. Here too, the youth is seen slapping the one who advises and says that Islam teaches them to share. “Muslim bhaiyon ka jhoota peene se ya khane se Shifa (healing) milti hain virus nahi” (sharing food and water eaten or drunk by another Muslim bothers leads to ‘Shifa’ not corona).

Similarly, in the sixth video, Muslims are seen performing Wudu (a ritual of washing performed by Muslims before prayer) in groups and insisting that this will not cause infection.

In the remaining videos too, while some Muslim youths are seen worrying about giving up ‘Sunnat’ there is a Muslim woman who seems to be quite confident that “Corona has originated from the Quran”. The enlightened woman insists that “Corona means Quran”.

This is not the first time that Muslims have cited Islam in the context of coronavirus. Earlier, a Shaheen Bagh protester by the name of Rizvana said, “Washing hands regularly is part of our lifestyle. We offer namaz five times a day and we wash our hands every time”, suggesting how she was safe from COVID-19 despite being a part of a mass gathering.

In a viral video, one of the protesters could be heard dismissing the looming threat of coronavirus by claiming that Corona emerged from the Quran. Several protestors do not think that the pandemic is a threat because the Anti-CAA protests are supposedly a ‘call from Allah‘.

At a time when social distancing is crucial to preventing the spread of the pandemic, Muslims have taken to social media to encourage people to indulge in risky social behaviour.

Caravan editor spreads fake news, claims Coronavirus tests are not free in India

OpIndia Staff
-
0
Caravan editor spreads fake news, claims Coronavirus tests are not free in India

Even as India has moved to top gear to combat the Wuhan Coronavirus, the left-liberal ecosystem has also jacked up their efforts to malign the government by spreading fake news. Executive editor of propaganda site The Caravan, Vinod K Jose today shared a tweet which claimed that while the Coronavirus tests in other countries are either free or very cheap, it is very expensive in India.

Vinod shared the screenshot of a tweet by one Twitter user with the username @thedevil-Ind, who claimed that the test for Novel Coronavirus is done for free in Iran, China, Europe, America and Sri Lanka, and it costs only ₹500 in Pakistan and ₹300 in Bangladesh, the cost of the test is ₹4500 in India. The claim shared by the Caravan editor is completely fake, as it compares cost of test in private laboratories in India with the cost in govt labs in other countries.

In India, initially, the testing for Coronavirus was done at only government laboratories, and those tests are completely free, the patients don’t have to pay anything. Besides the test, the treatment for Covid-19 patient is also free India.

In anticipation of the growing number of tests to be done, the central govt recently approved several private laboratory chains to conduct the test. In the guideline issued in this regard, the ICMR has fixed an upper limit of ₹4500 which can be charged by the labs for the test. ICMR has also appealed the private labs to either do the test for free, or charge a reduced rate. Unlike what left-liberals are spreading on media and social media, the govt has not fixed the cost at ₹4500, but it the maximum limit, while the labs are expected to charge below that amount.

Read- Despite ICMR saying that India has reached local transmission stage of coronavirus, Caravan publishes fake news claiming govt of India and ICMR denied it

Just like India, India, the test is free in govt run laboratories in the USA, but the same is not case with private labs, where the cost will have to paid by the patient, or will be paid by insurance. According to one report, the test will cost between $50 to $100 at labs run by Laboratory Corp. of America Holdings and Quest Diagnostics Inc, which is at par with the cost in private labs India.

Therefore, it is completely false that Coronavirus test is not free in India. It is free in government laboratories, while it will cost some money in private labs which can’t exceed ₹4500. Moreover, the government has been saying that the govt labs have enough capacity, therefore most people should be able to get their tests done for free at govt labs.

Congress leader Abhishek Manu Singhvi pass off social-distancing picture from Gujarat as that from Tamil Nadu

OpIndia Staff
-
0
Congress leader Abhishek Manu Singhvi pass off social-distancing picture from Gujarat as that from Tamil Nadu

Congress leader Abhishek Manu Singhvi today took to Twitter to share an image of social distancing being practiced. People in the picture were standing on circles which were drawn away from one other.

Singhvi tweeted that the social distancing was being practiced at a milk booth in Puducherry, Tamil Nadu.

Prima facie itself it could be concluded that the image is from Gujarat as the names of the stores are written in Gujarati. To identify which place the image is from, OpIndia tried to look for clues. One of the stores has the word ‘Chandrumanawala’ printed on the board. Chandrumana is a place in Gujarat, near Patan.

Chandrumana in Gujarat

Another store one can see in the background is one ‘Bhagwati sweet mart’. If you search for ‘Bhagwati Sweets Patan’ on Google, it throws up the image of the store which is similar to that in the above picture.

Bhagwati Sweets, Patan, Gujarat

Amusingly, the line is for grocery store and not even a milk booth. Same image with similar claims was shared by former Times of India Managing Editor (TIMS), Priya Gupta.

However, Gupta later corrected herself that the image was from Gujarat. Others also joined in in wrongly identifying Gujarat as Tamil Nadu.

Actual photo of a milk booth in Puducherry where social distancing was being followed was shared by Puducherry LG Kiran Bedi.

And while it is Puducherry or Gujarat, milk booth or no milk booth, that Indians have risen to the occasion and paid heed to PM Modi’s call to implement lockdown and social distancing while we fight coronavirus, the efforts of the people are worth encouraging.

Watch: Indian Doctor who has not seen his 2-month-old daughter for weeks urges people to stay home, breaks down on camera

OpIndia Staff
-
0
Watch: Indian Doctor who has not seen his 2-month-old daughter for weeks urges people to stay home, breaks down on camera

While the scourge of the coronavirus outbreak has severely disrupted the day-to-day lives of ordinary Indians, it has also exacted an enormous toll on the lives of doctors and healthcare workers who are tirelessly working to provide medical attention to the affected patients.

In such a demanding environment when the country is under a strict lockdown for 21 days, doctors, nurses and other healthcare workers are clocking in long hours at hospitals to ensure proper medical facilities are provided to the sick. The challenges facing them are underscored by an Indian doctor’s account of the sacrifices he has made amidst the coronavirus crisis.

Doctor Sanjay from AIIMS Delhi broke down on national television while reminiscing about his two-months-old daughter who he had not been able to see for weeks because of the enormity of the task at his hand. He also urged people to stay home and do their bit in helping the country in battling the novel coronavirus.

“I haven’t been home. 15 days back, it was my wedding anniversary so I had gone home for 2 days. I have a two-month-old daughter but I cannot see her. Please stay at home. Don’t come outside. Please help us in curbing the spread of this disease. A very big problem is approaching our country,” the doctor said.

The number of COVID-19 cases in India has risen to 562 with Maharashtra top on the list with 116 coronavirus cases. PM Modi had yesterday announced a total lockdown of 21 days to battle the spread of the virus and prevent it from overwhelming the country’s public healthcare system.

Urging people to stay at home and not venture out in open unless very essential, PM Modi, during his address, said that even developed nations are struggling to control the spread of the novel coronavirus and if the situation got out of hand, India would have to pay an unimaginable price. However, he has ensured that items of daily necessities, milk, groceries and medicines will remain available during the lockdown.

Uttar Pradesh: 33-year-old with no foreign travel history tests positive for coronavirus, contact transmission confirmed

OpIndia Staff
-
0
Uttar Pradesh: 33-year-old with no foreign travel history tests positive for coronavirus, contact transmission confirmed

A 33-year-old resident of Pilibhit, Uttar Pradesh has been tested positive for COVID-19. As per reports, the person does not have any travel history from abroad. Dr. Sudhir Singh of King George Medical University, Lucknow said it is a confirmed case of contact transmission.

Earlier, a 45-year-old woman who had travelled to Mecca with a group of 37 people recently, had tested positive. Uttar Pradesh has reported 34 positive cases so far.

In India, community transmission has not been reported so far. Most cases in India are people who had contracted the disease from abroad or their immediate family members. The ICMR had already confirmed earlier that in India, coronavirus is at Stage 2, which means local transmission.

In Maharashtra, 87 people had been put under quarantine after an Anganwadi worker was tested positive. The said worker’s family members were also tested positive.

Pilibhit was recently in the news when, despite government orders restricting gatherings, police officers were seen leading a procession of people applauding healthcare workers at 5 pm on Sunday, 22 March.

COVID-19 is the infectious disease caused by the recent Coronavirus outbreak started in the Wuhan province of China in December 2019. The novel coronavirus was identified as a cause of the cluster of pneumonia cases in Wuhan. It rapidly spread, resulting in an epidemic throughout China followed by an increasing number of cases throughout the world. Globally more than 300,000 confirmed cases have been reported.

As per WHO, the initial transmission was associated with a seafood market where most patients used to work that sold live animals. Later the market was closed to avoid infection. However, the transmission progressed from person to person, which became the main mode of transmission. The person to person transmission has occurred mainly via respiratory droplets. The symptoms of COVID-19 may have aches and pains, nasal congestion, runny nose, sore throat, and diarrhoea.

In India, total number of cases of coronavirus has reached near 520 and 11 patients succumbed to the disease. Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday in an emotional gesture with folded hands requested the citizens to avoid stepping out of the homes till the next 21 days calling for a complete lockdown across the country.

He asserted that “If we don’t handle these 21 days well, then our country will go backwards by 21 years.” Quoting WHO PM said that the virus took 67 days from first reported case to reach 100,000 cases, it took 11 days from 100,000 cases to reach next 100,000 cases and took only 4 days to reach third 100,000 explaining the scale of the epidemic in order to make realize the citizens to stay home for avoiding the deadly epidemic.

Brazil President gives up on lockdown, says normal life should resume as their country is younger and warmer than Italy

OpIndia Staff
-
0
Brazil President gives up on lockdown, says normal life should resume as their country is younger and warmer than Italy

Even as stringent lockdowns and exacting restrictions are placed by many countries battling the unabated proliferation of Wuhan Coronavirus, Brazilian President Bolsonaro is marching to a different beat to tackle the virus that has so far affected over 4,20,000 people across the globe and rendered about 19,000 dead.

As cities in Brazil came to a standstill following the lockdown in the country, the Brazilian President in his address on Tuesday night urged mayors and state governors to roll down the restriction measures, terming them as “hysteria” over the coronavirus and claiming that Brazilians have nothing to fear about Italy-like situation because of the Latin American country’s younger population and warmer climate.

“We must return to normality, life must continue and jobs be preserved. The few states and city halls should abandon their scorched-earth policies,” said Bolsonaro while adding, “Most people, including myself, have nothing to fear about the virus. In my particular case, with my history as an athlete, if I were infected with the virus, I would have no reason to worry, I would feel nothing, or it would be at most just little flu.”

Bolsonaro has been facing a growing storm of criticism in Brazil for his laissez-faire attitude towards taming the virus, downplaying it as “fantasy” and a “small flu” despite the contagion’s unbridled expansion to more than 122 countries across the world. Opinion polls have suggested that Bolsonaro’s popularity is plummeting as he displays cavalier disregard in acknowledging and dealing with a pandemic.

Brazil has so far registered 46 deaths due to coronavirus, with 12 deaths recorded on Tuesday itself. The cases have risen from 1891 to 2201 as per the government figures. However, if the evidence from the countries it has affected so far is to be considered, if sufficient measures are not put in place, it can lead to an exponential upsurge in the cases and greater chances of community transmission, making it all the more difficult for the country to control the situation.

In addition, Brazil’s economic prospects amid the pandemic are not very bright. According to data, consumer confidence has fallen to a three-year low in March and retail sales in January tanked at the steepest rate in over a year, illustrating that the consumer spending was already very weak even before the coronavirus outbreak hit the Brazilian shores.

The slowdown is all set to exacerbate as Brazilian city Sao Paulo began a two-week lockdown on Tuesday. However, if stringent measures are not imposed now, the pandemic has a potential of inflicting irreparable and devastating impact on the lives of Brazilians as evidenced in the contagion’s deadly run in Italy which has so far witnessed 6800 deaths and a total collapse of the public health system.

Italy has been under complete lockdown since March 9, 2020. The steady rise in the spread of the contagion in Spain has also forced the European country to impose drastic measures and curtail individual liberties in the face of lethal crisis. Witnessing Italy’s worsening situation, France, Germany, and the United Kingdom too followed the suit and ordered a mandatory lockdown of their countries barring the sale of essential items to combat the Wuhan coronavirus. India, too announced sweeping lockdown of the entire country for 21 days- the most severe step taken anywhere in the war against the coronavirus.

Afghanistan: Suicide bombers attack Gurudwara in Kabul, 150 held hostage, some rescued

OpIndia Staff
-
0
Afghanistan: Suicide bombers attack Gurudwara in Kabul, 150 held hostage, some rescued

Armed terrorists and suicide bombers attacked a Gurudwara in Shor Bazar area in Kabul, Afghanistan on Wednesday morning. 150 people have been held hostage. As of now, security forces are engaged in an attack with the gunmen. According to reports, many people who were inside the building have been rescued.

As per news agency ANI, one of the floors has been cleared up by Afghan forces and many people who were inside have been rescued.

At least four people have reportedly been killed in the attack so far. Efforts are on to rescue the remaining survivors.

Reports said the attack began at about 7.45 am Afghan time. Afghanistan’s interior ministry said they had cordoned off the entire area. Ambulances and Afghan special forces have also been sent to the site.

No terrorist organisation has yet taken the responsibility of the attack.

The Shor Bazar area of Kabul was once home to several gurdwaras but they were destroyed during the fighting in the 1980s. Kabul is still home to several thousand Hindus and Sikhs, who because of being the minority community in Afghanistan, have been facing severe discrimination. This has forced many Hindus and Sikhs living in the area to migrate to other countries.

India locked down: This is how the police and administration is ensuring 1.3 billion people maintain social distancing amidst coronavirus outbreak

OpIndia Staff
-
0
India locked down: This is how the police and administration is ensuring 1.3 billion people maintain social distancing amidst coronavirus outbreak

The world’s largest democracy announced a total lockdown of 21 days starting midnight on 25 March, 2020 in a bid to curb the spread of Wuhan coronavirus. Videos have gone viral on social media where police administration can be seen taking steps to ensure that people adhere to the rules and are not loitering around, putting everyone’s health at risk.

Only essential goods and services like milk, groceries, fruits, vegetables, medicines are available and travel is also restricted for only emergency healthcare. In the above video, one can see police asking the man in a car to get off and asks him to put on the mask. The police is wearing protective gear as well. Later, the car is sanitised and he man is instructed that the police will escort his car to the hospital.

In an image shared by superstar Amitabh Bachchan, people can be seen standing in queue for groceries.

However, circles are made on ground to ensure people maintain social distancing. More visuals from Gujarat show people maintaining distance at grocery stores.

Those in Jammu and Kashmir who were found flouting the lockdown rules were made to sit in circles made on roads to maintain social distancing.

Even the Union Cabinet meeting that took place today had social distancing in place.

Union Minister Piyush Goyal took to Twitter to inform how the government is making sure the essentials like groceries food grains are in sufficient supply in states.

As we fight the pandemic, Amdavad Municipal Corporation workers have distributed food to the needy across the city. Restaurant owners have stepped up to help provide food to the people. The community has come together in this fight.

As per the official government figures, as of now there are 512 active COVID-19 cases in India currently. 40 people have been cured and discharged. India has had 9 casualties due to coronavirus as of 9:15 AM today.

I did not test for COVID-19, but it is ‘extremely likely’ that I had it. Now I have basically recovered: Globetrotting climate ‘activist’ Greta Thunberg

OpIndia Staff
-
0
I did not test for COVID-19, but it is ‘extremely likely’ that I had it. Now I have basically recovered: Globetrotting climate ‘activist’ Greta Thunberg

Teen climate ‘activist’ Greta Thunberg has shared on social media that she is almost sure she had the Coronavirus and now has recovered. In an Instagram post, Greta has written that she was travelling around central Europe recently and upon reaching Sweden, had isolated herself away from her mother and sister for two weeks.

Greta has added that she started experiencing symptoms of a sore throat, cough, fatigue and shivers. The teenager wrote that her father, who had travelled with her from Brussels, had similar symptoms. She further wrote that anyone feeling ill was advised to stay at home so she had also done the same.

Greta has further written that in Sweden, one cannot get tested for coronavirus unless they are in the need for emergency medical care and anyone feeling ill is advised to stay at home and isolate themselves.

She affirmed that she has not been tested for COVID-19 but it is ‘extremely likely’ that she had the virus. She has also added that she has ‘basically recovered’ now and she almost did not feel ill during the last two weeks, adding that her last cold was much worse than this.

“Had it not been for someone else having the virus simultaneously I might not even have suspected anything. Then I would just have thought I was feeling unusually tired with a bit of a cough”, Greta wrote, implying that she suspects she had a coronavirus infection even without getting tested because people are getting infected with the virus.

Greta added that it is the very thing that makes low-risk people, that is young people, may not experience any severe symptoms at all, even if they are infected with the coronavirus, and that is what makes it most dangerous. She adds that since high-risk people, that is the old and sick, are more vulnerable to the disease, might end up contracting it from the youngsters if the young do not isolate themselves.

Greta has advised people to follow the advice from experts and stay at home.

It is not clear why Greta has been travelling around central Europe. In early March, the ‘activist’ had called for a ‘digital protest’ to the students in Sweden and around the world who had been following her in the “school strike for climate” movement. on social media, she had also urged activists to stay at home and post images with #ClimateStrikeOnline hashtag instead of joining demonstrations on streets.

Sweden has 2272 cases of coronavirus so far. But the testing for the virus is very limited as only those with symptoms that need hospitalisation and high-risk individuals, including medical staff working with the risk-groups are being tested.

1...5,5385,5395,540...7,614Page 5,539 of 7,614