Bengal BJP chief makes bizarre comment, says 'Coronavirus is God's way of punishing China'

Bengal BJP President Dilip Ghosh on Tuesday stirred controversy with yet another bizarre comment, this time over the outbreak of the novel Coronavirus. According to him, "God is punishing China for destroying nature." He further stated that those who worship God and eat "prasad" will not be infected by the virus. 

According to reports, speaking at a gathering, he said, “The world is shaking with coronavirus panic. Crores of people are not coming out of their houses. Those who went to Moon, they are also staying locked in their houses. But, in our country, thousands of people are coming out of their houses to worship. They are drinking holy water and eating prasad. God will bless them and they will never be attacked by Coronavirus." 

India's Coronavirus count rises 

Fourteen more people have tested positive for coronavirus -- eight in Kerala and three each in Karnataka and Maharashtra, state authorities said on Tuesday as the number of such cases went up to 61. Amid the COVID-19 scare, a combination of two anti-HIV drugs was used for the first time in India in the treatment of two patients.

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The health ministry said the total number of confirmed cases has risen to 50, adding the rest are being retested for confirmation. If the fresh cases declared by the state governments are taken into account, the figure goes up to 61.

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Novel Coronavirus outbreak

According to the latest reports, has claimed more than 4,000 lives across the globe and has infected over 110,000 people around the world since it first broke out in December 2019. While most of the cases are from Hubei province of China and the city of Wuhan (the epicentre of the outbreak), other countries including Iran, Italy, Japan and the Philippines have also reported deaths related to novel coronavirus.

Meanwhile, the World Health Organisation (WHO) on Monday has declared COVID-19 a 'pandemic' as the virus continues to spread worldwide. First detected in the city of Wuhan, in Hubei Province of China, the virus outbreak has now spread across 20 countries since December 2019. The World Health Organisation (WHO) has dubbed the virus as COVID-19. 

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Read: 14 more coronavirus cases in Kerala, Karnataka, Pune; 58 Indians brought back from Iran