NSTworld On a Kolkata street, crowds battled with police for hours to stop Samir’s cremation, fearing it would spread the coronavirus and endanger lives.
On Monday, two days after testing positive for the virus, Samir died, plunging his family into grief and triggering a public backlash that has left his 27-year-old son stunned.
That risks complicating the government’s efforts to manage the unfolding crisis in the nation of 1.3 billion people. Rajneil Kamath, publisher of Newschecker, said the increase mirrored misinformation typically seen during major political events, including a flood of queries in regional Indian languages.People are also using online platforms to identify those who have recently returned from locations considered high-risk or who may have come into contact with people with the disease.
As of Saturday evening, India had 909 confirmed cases of the coronavirus. Samir was the first confirmed coronavirus patient to die in the state of West Bengal, and one of 19 killed by the disease so far in India. “He didn’t come into contact with anyone that I know who had travelled abroad,” Satyaki said, adding he was always in close touch with his parents.
A crowd of around a hundred people demanded the body be taken elsewhere, fearing Samir’s cremation would contaminate the area, one of the officers said.Police called in reinforcements and baton-charged the crowd, before cremating Samir’s remains around midnight.
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