The deadly coronavirus pandemic, which began in the Chinese city of Wuhan, has claimed 6,523 lives worldwide and 169,935 people have been tested positive for the virus so far. In India, two people have died and the total positive cases rose to 113 on Monday.
However, there are reports that the people who have tested positive for coronavirus or those whose test results are awaited, have fled the hospital. Such reports were received from Nagpur and Ahmednagar in Maharashtra.
Stand-up comedian Aditi Mittal took to Twitter on Sunday and said that the people are running away from the hospitals because they have no trust in the government. "All these people running away from hospitals and medical authorities in India when they have symptoms of #Covid19 is the best indicator of the relationship and trust that the average Indian citizen has with the state and government," she wrote.
Quoting Mittal's tweet, Bollywood actor Richa Chadha, agreed with her statement. "+1 . . . Though no one condones this behaviour," she wrote.
However, Producer Ekta Kapoor didn't agree with the both of them. She said that this is not the time to politicise a pandemic. Kapoor wrote, "I don’t agree! It’s not d time to politisize a pandemic !ths has less to do with d authorities that are risking their own lives ...n more to do with irresponsibility!wanna see if they would run if they were getting a reward!!"
The banter didn't stop there. Chadha further said that those people who ran away from the hospitals and evaded quarantine are irresponsible. However, she added that there is a general mistrust in the authorities.
Replying to Chadha, Kapoor said that people are scared and will blame it on anyone. However, we should be mature enough not to buy it.
She wrote, "Fear n panic understood it’s still irresponsible! N no excuse is justified ! Ppl r scared n will blame fear on anything n anyone ! We shud b mature enough not to buy it ! Anyways respect ur point of view tho:)"
Later, to drive home her point, Richa shared a video where hospital authorities were seen playing Holi. "This is why its hard for the common man to trust “authorities”. we’re all in this together @ektarkapoor ... it’s the same as ppl not choosing fgovernment hospitals unless they HAVE to. This pandemic can also be an opportunity for us to focus on our healthcare infrastructure," Richa Chadha wrote.
