The Union Health Ministry Joint Secretary Lav Agrawal on Monday rubbished the reports that said that the central government is mulling over the community-wise mapping of the coronavirus outbreak in the country.
“This is a very irresponsible piece of news. COVID-19 does not see people’s caste, creed or religion,” Agrawal said on reports of govt contemplating community-wise mapping of coronavirus spread.
This is a very irresponsible piece of news. #COVID19 does not see people’s caste, creed or religion: Union Health Ministry Joint Secretary Lav Agrawal on reports of govt mulling community-wise mapping of COVID-19 spread pic.twitter.com/i8gmR4vi5U
— ANI (@ANI) May 11, 2020
Dismissing the reports of religion-based mapping of coronavirus spread, Agrawal added that some clusters have been identified by the government agencies where a disproportionately large number of infections have been reported. “It is important for us to focus on containment efforts in order to ensure we don’t reach community transmission stage,” Agarwal said.
The number of coronavirus caseloads in India is steadily on the rise. In the last 24 hours, India has reported 4213 coronavirus cases, taking the tally of the total infections to 67152 on Monday. At least 20,197 people have recovered so far, Agrawal said, adding that the recovery rate of patients in India stood at 31.15 per cent.
Deccan Chronicle report published yesterday claimed government mooting community-wise mapping
Earlier yesterday, a report published in ‘Deccan Chronicle’ claimed that the government is toying with the idea of linking the virus spreads in terms of religion, lifestyle, income, daily routine and family size in order to understand the pattern of the spread community-wise.
Quoting highly placed “sources”, ‘Deccan Chronicle’ published an article on Sunday, alleging that the proposal of community-based mapping was deliberated over at the highest levels.
“If in the impending future, the coronavirus situation in the country snowballs as it did in the United States, the religion-based mapping will help us in identifying which community has more chances of spreading the virus further and, accordingly, strict containment measures can be taken in localities or clusters across the country,” Deccan Chronicle article quoting a source privy to this discussion said.
The article also added that the scheme of community-mapping of the coronavirus spread was mooted after pockets in Uttar Pradesh, Gujarat, Maharashtra and Rajasthan were witnessing an inexplicable surge in the number of COVID-19 cases.
