The Evening Wrap: Govt asks social media to take down COVID-19-related posts

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The Evening Wrap Sunday | 25 April, 2021

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Government asks social media to take down 100 COVID-19-related posts
The government has asked social media platforms to take down around 100 posts which it believes were done to create panic about the COVID-19 situation in India by using unrelated, communally sensitive posts and misinformation, The Hindu has learnt. On April 24, Twitter had removed over 50 posts from its platform following orders from the government. The majority of these tweets were critical of the Centre's handling of the coronavirus pandemic as India grappled with a record number of cases amid shortage of beds and medical oxygen. When contacted, an official of the Minister of Electronics and IT (MeitY) said, "The Ministry, on the recommendation of the Ministry of Home Affairs, has asked social media platforms to remove around 100 posts or URLs." The official said this was done in view of the misuse of these platforms by certain users to spread fake or misleading information and create panic about the COVID19 situation in India by using unrelated, old and out of the context images or visuals, communally sensitive posts and misinformation about COVID-19 protocols. "This decision has been taken to prevent obstructions in the fight against the pandemic and escalation of public order due to these posts," the official added. As per the order received by Twitter, some of the verified accounts for which the tweets have been removed include, Congress Spokesperson Pawan Khera, Member of Parliament Revanth Reddy, a Minister from West Bengal Moloy Ghatak, ABP News editor Pankaj Jha, Actor Vineet Kumar Singh, filmmaker Avinash Das and filmmaker and former journalist Vinod Kapri. Many of the removed tweets had content related to shortage of medicine, beds, mass cremations, and the gathering of crowds at Kumbh Mela amid the pandemic. While blocked for viewing in India, these tweets will continue to remain visible outside the country. Mr. Khera has sent a legal notice to Union minister Ravi Shankar Prasad and social media platform Twitter for taking down his April 12 tweet on the surge of Covid-19 cases. The tweet had questioned the "complete silence" of the Union government in allowing the Kumbh Mela and election rallies to take place despite the worsening coronavirus situation in India. Russia is planning to fly special planes with a wide range of COVID-related assistance including oxygen generators and concentrators as well as drugs needed for the treatment of the coronavirus that is ravaging many parts of India, but may have to hold off sending the drug Remdesivir owing to U.S. patent violations. According to sources aware of the discussions between Delhi and Moscow, the grant-based assistance could begin to arrive this week, possibly in the next few days, and will include oxygen generating equipment for various purposes, ranging from use in individual homes to nursing homes and hospitals, as well as pharma supplies of drugs like Favipiravir, used to treat milder versions of COVID-19. However, exports of Remdesivir, which the Russian government had earlier offered to facilitate, have run into trouble with U.S. licensing laws invoked by Remdesivir developer, California-based Gilead Sciences Inc. The sources told The Hindu that the Russian side has now conveyed that exports of the drug, for which demand has grown exponentially in the past month, may not be sent to India unless the issue is resolved. U.S., other countries, promise support to India The U.S. will rapidly deploy additional support to India and its health care heroes amidst the horrific COVID-19 outbreak, Secretary of State Antony Blinken has said. Mr. Blinken's remarks came as pressure grew on the Biden administration to ship COVID-19 vaccines along with several life-saving medical supplies to India. "Our hearts go out to the Indian people in the midst of the horrific COVID-19 outbreak," Mr. Blinken said in a tweet on Saturday night. U.S. National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan said that the United States is deeply concerned by the severe COVID outbreak in India. "We are working around the clock to deploy more supplies and support to our friends and partners in India as they bravely battle this pandemic. More very soon," Mr. Sullivan said. Several U.S. lawmakers, eminent Indian-Americans and the powerful U.S. Chambers of Commerce have voiced their concerns over the situation in India and have asked the Biden administration to extend assistance, release vaccines and other raw materials critical for India. Meanwhile, the European Union and Germany have also promised aid to fight the second wave of Covid that's currently ravaging India. The assurance of help came this afternoon, as the daily Covid numbers almost touched 3.5 lakh -- the fourth straight day of 3 lakh-plus fresh infections. "Upon request for assistance by #India, we have activated the #EU Civil Protection Mechanism. The EU will do its utmost to mobilise assistance to support people of IN. Our #ERCC is already coordinating EU MS that are ready to provide urgently needed #oxygen & medicine rapidly," tweeted Janez Lenarcic, the European Commissioner for Crisis Management. German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Sunday said her government is "urgently" preparing a "mission of support" for India as it battles a massive spike in coronavirus cases that has triggered a severe shortage of medical oxygen in several States. In a message, Ms Merkel said Germany stands in solidarity with India in the "common fight" against the pandemic. "To the people of India I want to express my sympathy on the terrible suffering that COVID-19 has again brought over your communities," Ms Merkel said. "The fight against the pandemic is our common fight. Germany stands in solidarity with India and is urgently preparing a mission of support," added. Also on Sunday, Russia is planning to fly special planes with a wide range of COVID-related assistance including oxygen generators and concentrators as well as drugs needed for the treatment of the coronavirus that is ravaging many parts of India, but may have to hold off sending the drug Remdesivir owing to U.S. patent violations. According to sources aware of the discussions between Delhi and Moscow, the grant-based assistance could begin to arrive this week, possibly in the next few days, and will include oxygen generating equipment for various purposes, ranging from use in individual homes to nursing homes and hospitals, as well as pharma supplies of drugs like Favipiravir, used to treat milder versions of COVID-19. PM CARES fund allocates funds for 551 oxygen plants The PM CARES Fund has approved allocation of funds for setting up 551 Pressure Swing Adsorption (PSA) medical oxygen generation plants at public health facilities in the country, according to a statement from the Prime Minister's Office (PMO) on April 25. With 162 such plants approved earlier, the decision would lead to setting up of an oxygen plant in all districts with government hospitals, an official said. A tweet from Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Twitter handle about the development said: "Oxygen plants in every district to ensure adequate oxygen availability... An important decision that will boost oxygen availability to hospitals and help people across the nation. (Sic)". The PMO said the Fund had given in-principle approval to 551 PSA oxygen generation plants "in line with the Prime Minister's direction of boosting availability of oxygen to hospitals". The decision came in the wake of oxygen shortages at hospitals in the country amidst a surge of Covid-19 cases. Prime Minister had ordered the plants to be set up as soon as possible and said they would boost oxygen availability at the district level, the statement said. The plants would come up in selected government hospitals in district headquarters and the procurement would be done via the Health and Family Welfare Ministry, it said. Cancel diversion of 80KL oxygen, Tamil Nadu CM writes to PM Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Edappadi K. Palaniswami has written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi seeking immediate cancellation of the diversion of 80 KL of liquid oxygen from Sriperumbudur to Andhra Pradesh and Telangana. He reasoned that there was a need to ensure adequate oxygen availability in the State due to the active caseload crossing over a lakh. In his letter, Mr. Palaniswami said that in the latest National Medical Oxygen allotment, the oxygen allocation for Tamil Nadu has been fixed at 220 Metric Tonnes (MTs), while the State would require 450 MTs shortly, which would be more than the production capacity of 400 MTs. "Based on this wrong allotment [of 220 MTs], 80 MTs of liquid oxygen has been diverted from the manufacturing facilities located at Sriperumbudur, Tamil Nadu, to Andhra Pradesh and Telangana. This is based on the wrong position that the existing oxygen consumption in Tamil Nadu is lower than the manufacturing capacity," he said. The Chief Minister said according to the Petroleum and Explosives Safety Organisations data, the consumption of oxygen in Tamil Nadu has already reached 310 MTs as against the inadequate allotment of 220 MTs. "Also, the States to which the allotment has been made have lower number of active cases than us and also have major steel industries located within the their State/close to their States. Hence, the diversion from the Sriperumbudur plant which supplies to Chennai city with the second biggest caseload in South India seems to have no justification. This needs to be immediately corrected," Mr. Palaniswami said. Delhi lockdown extended by a week Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Sunday announced that the lockdown in Delhi will be extended for another week to deal with the surge in COVID-19 cases and the health emergency due to shortage of oxygen. The six-day lockdown that was preceded by a weekend curfew was scheduled to end on April 26. "The lockdown was out last weapon against Corona. We have spoken to several sections and have decided to extend the lockdown by one more week. We hope that this will further bring down the positivity rate," Mr. Kejriwal said. He added that despite the lockdown, cases continue to rise in the city and the spread has not stopped. However, he said that the positivity rate that rose to 36-37% (the highest in the country) during the start of the lockdown is now showing signs of improvement over the past two days, and has fallen in the past 24-hours below 30%. "We have to monitor this situation closely and see if it comes down further," he said. On the oxygen shortage in the city that has lead to several deaths, the Chief Minister said that the government has been working all night to ensure that oxygen reaches hospital on time. "We have failed at times and have been successful at times. We need to manage our oxygen resources properly and have started a portal which will provide updates on availability of oxygen every two hours. This is to get information from the stock available with manufacturers, suppliers and the need of hospitals as well so that we do not face an emergency," the Chief Minister said. 82 killed in hospital fire, Iraq Interior Ministry confirms Iraq's Interior Ministry said on April 25 that 82 people died and 110 were injured in a catastrophic fire that broke out in a Baghdad hospital. Among the dead were at least 28 patients on ventilators battling severe symptoms of the coronavirus, tweeted Ali al-Bayati, a spokesman of the country's independent Human Rights Commission. The commission is a semi-official body. Negligence on the part of hospital authorities has been blamed for the fire, which initial reports suggest was caused when an oxygen cylinder exploded in an intensive care ward at he Ibn al-Khatib hospital. The hospital cares for patients with severe symptoms of the coronavirus. The semi-official Independent High Commission for Human Rights reported that at least 28 of the dead were on ventilators. Iraq's prime minister fired key hospital officials Sunday hours after the fire broke out. Covid watch: Numbers and Developments The number of reported coronavirus cases from India stands at 1,71,96,471 at the time of publishing this newsletter with the death toll at 1,93,612. Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot on Sunday announced that the State government will provide free coronavirus vaccine to people above the 18 years of age, who will be inoculated beginning May 1. He said the State government will spend about ₹3,000 crore on the exercise. Meanwhile, the first Oxygen Express train for Delhi carrying around 70 tonnes of the life-saving gas will depart from Jindal Steel Works plant in Raigarh on Sunday night, Railway Board Chairman Suneet Sharma said. The train, with four tankers, will reach Delhi by Monday night, he said. In brief Prime Minister Narendra Modi in the 76th edition of "Mann Ki Baat" urged the nation not to fall prey to any rumours about the vaccine and said the free vaccine provided for those above 45-years of age will continue. "I urge people not to fall prey to any rumour about vaccines. You all know that people above 45 years of age get a free vaccine. Now from May 1 onwards, the vaccine is going to be made available for every person above 18 years. The programme of free vaccines by the government of India that is going on now will continue. I appeal to the States too to extend the benefit of this free vaccine campaign of the government of India to the maximum number of the people," Mr. Modi said. Evening Wrap will return tomorrow.

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