'Dr Simon was the Managing Director of New Hope Hospital in Chennai. The 55-year-old neurosurgeon has helped hundreds of patients in his lifetime, and is remembered by people around him as a person who put humanity first. But in his death, Dr Simon was denied the same by residents of the city that he served, thanks to uncontrolled rumours around the spread of COVID-19. In fact, his family couldn’t even say a final goodbye to the doctor, who died due to COVID-19 and likely contracted the disease from patients he was caring for.
'BJP MP Shobha Karandlaje on Monday took to social media to claim that some people from Belagavi, who were quarantined after they attended the Tablighi Jamaat in New Delhi, were misbehaving and spitting at the healthcare workers of the hospital that they were taken to. However, this claim has been denied by Belagavi Deputy Commissioner SB Bommanahalli, who said that the people quarantined in the district were not spitting or misbehaving with health workers...'
'The Press Council of India on Friday asked the print media to stop the publicity and advertisement of AYUSH-related claims for COVID-19 treatment in order to prevent dissemination of misleading information about AYUSH drugs and services.
'When they found him in an East Delhi locality towards the end of February, the tall, dark, and handsome labrador was hungry, weak, scared, and depressed. Apparently abandoned by his owners in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic, the well-bred dog had taken shelter inside a building under construction. Noticing his plight, someone called Ummeed Social Welfare Society, an Uttar Pradesh-based non-governmental organisation that took him in...'
'The Central Government has sought a direction from the Supreme Court that no media outlet should print, publish or telecast anything on COVID-19 without first ascertaining facts from the mechanism provided by the government. This prayer was made by the Centre in its status report filed in the SC in response to the PILs seeking directions for welfare of migrant workers, and measures to control the pandemic transmission...'
'Bollywood Singer Sonu Nigam has extended his stay in Dubai amid the coronavirus outbreak as it can put people around him in India at risk. He had gone to Dubai with his wife to meet his son. He had his concert too in Dubai scheduled to be held on Sunday. The 46-year-old singer took to social media to inform that he will extend his stay in Dubai in the wake of coronavirus outbreak, extolled PM Narendra Modi's ‘Janata curfew’ and inform about the live streaming of his concert on Sunday.
'Nearly 17 civic bodies, including the BMC, had put up hoardings and distributed posters and pamphlets in housing societies that mistakenly state that people should stay away from animals as a precautionary measure against the virus. As a result, many pet owners across the city panicked and abandoned their pets...'
'...Last Wednesday, the sonu and monu of online misinformation, OpIndia and My Nation, jointly organised an event at Delhi’s Constitution Club titled “Bharat Bodh”. The esteemed house had Twitter influencers, authors, columnists and Madhu Kishwar as panellists. “Is India being pushed towards Khilafat 2.0?” was the question to be urgently contemplated. The blurb: “Riots, anti-Hindu imagery, Jinnah wali azadi and more — dissent or foundation for Khilafat 2.0?”...
'...there is a case for autonomy [of central banks], for sure. And that autonomy is important for all institutions, and that autonomy in the central bank in India was dead, certainly, in November 2016, when demonetisation was announced. Because it was very clear at that time that this was a decision taken against the wishes of the RBI, imposed on the RBI, which then had to implement something, which it did very badly. Which it had absolutely no knowledge of, and no preparation for.
'A piece of “breaking news” published by several media outlets on August 31 claimed that the Kerala police had booked 30 students of Kozhikode’s Silver Arts College for waving a Pakistani flag during the campaign for college elections. The anchor on Times Now channel (which reported that 25 students had been booked) said that the Bharatiya Janata Party had protested against the incident. She went on to question the channel’s correspondent, “Yes, Vivek, could you give us details about what really happened because we can see the visuals of a massive Pakistani flag being raised?”...