UP BJP MLA spreads COVID misinformation; claims 'Drink cow urine to protect from virus'

Spreading misinformation amid India's 2nd COVID wave, BJP MLA Surendra Singh on Saturday, claimed that he had been 'drinking cow urine to protect himself from Coronavirus'. Releasing a video from his UP home in Balia, Singh 'advised' that people should 'drink cow urine with a glass of cold water'. India currently has 37,23,446 active cases, 1,79,30,960 recovered cases and 2,38,270 fatalities.

BJP MLA spreads misinformation

This is not the first time Surendra Singh has stirred controversy with his remarks. In October 2020, in the wake of the horrific Hathras rape case, Singh claimed that incidents like rape can only be curbed by 'value-based' upbringing of girls. His comments were condemned by all politicians including top BJP MLAs.

He said, “Incidents like these can be stopped with help of good values, all parents should teach their daughters good values. It's only the combination of govt & good values that can make the country beautiful”.

India's oxygen & vaccine shortage

Currently, India is grappling with acute oxygen supply with Delhi being hit the worst - several hospitals have moved the High Court seeking oxygen supply. While the Centre and Delhi govt have blamed each other for the ongoing oxygen crisis in the national capital, Railways has started 'Oxygen Express'  to transport liquid oxygen to the states via green corridors. These trains have already begun to arrive at UP, Maharashtra, Andhra from Odisha, Jharkhand and others. Delhi, which has increased its demand to 900 MT oxygen per day has been allotted only 480 MT by Centre. SC has ordered the Centre to maintain a daily supply of 700 MT to Delhi.

Meanwhile, India's vaccination drive has hit a roadblock due to shortage of supplies. On April 19, relaxed the age bar for vaccination from May 1 onwards allowing 18+ to be vaccinated, and states to procure doses from manufacturers directly and approved an advance payment of Rs 4,567.50 crores to Serum Institute of India (SII) & Bharat Biotech (BBL) to ramp up vaccine production. Soon enough, most state governments placed lakhs of orders with the two vaccine manufacturers, but are yet to receive their orders.