Union Health Minister hails Hayden's affection for India, hopes selective reporting ceases

Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan backed former Australian cricketer Matthew Hayden's message on India's battle against the second wave of COVID and hoped for 'selective reporting' to cease. Matthew Hayden condemned the 'bad press' against India in its fight against COVID without possessing the understanding of the diversity and challenges posed by the sheer number of the population.

Sharing Matthew Hayden's note against the foreign media's bad press against India, Dr Harsh Vardhan claimed that it was the message that more persons needed to and resonate and hoped it would help people gain perspective about the country's battle against the second wave of the pandemic. Taking to Twitter, the Union Health Minister hailed the former Australian cricketer's affection for India. 

Former Australian opener Hayden touted media reports on India's COVID fight as 'astonishing' and noted that the country had vaccinated over 160 million people while conducting 1.3 million tests everyday. Hayden urged the foreign media to respect India's cultural, religious, linguistic, human developments, and other complexities before passing judgements and claimed that his 'heart bleeds' at the bad press that was being hurled at India. One should note that Hayden is a member of the Australia-India Council that advises the Australian government on trade-related policies and foreign relations concerning India. Hayden is also part of the BCCI's vast pool of foreign commentators.  

"I have been visiting India for over a decade now and have travelled all over the country, especially Tamil Nadu which I consider my “spiritual home”. I have always had the highest respect for the leaders and public officials who are entrusted with the task of running such a diverse and vast country. Wherever I went, the people greeted me with love and affection, for which I remain in their debt. I can proudly claim that I have seen India up close over the years and that is why my heart bleeds to see it not only in agony at the moment, but also for the bad press that has been hurled at it by those who I am not sure spend any time here to understand India, its people, and their myriad challenges," Hayden wrote in his post. 

India's COVID battle

India's COVID-19 active cases count has decreased to 36,18,458 with a net decline of 55,344 cases being recorded in the active caseload in a span of 24 hours, while the daily positivity rate dropped to 16.98 per cent, the Union Health Ministry said on Sunday. The total active caseload now comprises 14.66 per cent of the country's total infections, it said. Ten — Karnataka, Maharashtra, Kerala, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal, Gujarat, and Chhattisgarh — cumulatively account for 74.69 per cent of the country's total active cases, the ministry said.

“A declining trend in the positivity rate is also observed which has dropped to 16.98 per cent (May 16) from 24.47 per cent recorded on May 3,” it said. India’s cumulative recoveries have reached 2,07,95,335 with 3,62,437 patients recuperating in a span of 24 hours. It outnumbers the country’s daily COVID-19 cases for the fifth time in the last six days, the ministry said. Ten states account for 70.94 per cent of the new recoveries. The ministry noted that Karnataka, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Andhra Pradesh, West Bengal, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Odisha and Haryana reported 74.7 per cent of the 3,11,170 new cases registered in a span of 24 hours.