When a News Article Vanishes, We Have More Than Just a Pandemic to Worry About

'Last week, The New Indian Express, one of India’s major English newspapers, pulled down an article that was heavily critical of the Centre’s response to the COVID-19 outbreak. The article, entitled ‘Centre’s COVID-19 Communication Plan: hold back data, gag agencies and scientists’, discussed the government’s reluctance to share outbreak-related data and attempts to muzzle scientists. It noted how scientists from India’s apex medical research agency, the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), have suddenly and inexplicably disappeared from the health ministry’s daily COVID-19 press briefings. It also claimed ICMR had disbanded an expert panel it had previously set up to study COVID-19 drugs and vaccines because the group’s members had been critical of the government’s actions...'