Published 11:42 IST, March 5th 2020
Request Shaheen Bagh protest to halt for few days because of Coronavirus: Sirsa's appeal
Akali Dal leader Manjinder Sirsa appealed to the Shaheen Bagh protestors in Delhi to stop their protest for a few days amid the deadly coronavirus outbreak
Akali Dal leader Manjinder Sirsa on Thursday appealed to the Shaheen Bagh protesters in Delhi to stop their protest for a few days amid the deadly Coronavirus outbreak in the country. Taking to Twitter, Sirsa said that as there are new cases of coronavirus in Delhi, the Shaheen Bagh protesters must consider stopping their protest for few days. The leader also said that the protester's carelessness can be a threat to other people's lives. This statement of the Akali Dal leader comes after the total number of cases in India has jumped to 29 on Wednesday.
Coronavirus cases rise in India
On Wednesday, Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan revealed that 28 people had been confirmed Coronavirus-positive in the country, including in New Delhi. He said that out of these 16 were Italian nationals. They have been sent to Indo-Tibetan Border Police's (ITBP) quarantine facility in Chhawla. Following this, one more case has come to light, of a Paytm employee.
With the count rising to 29 cases later in the day, the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare on Wednesday issued a travel advisory. Taking to Twitter, the Ministry mentioned that the following advisory is a supersession of all the other advisories issued earlier.
Coronavirus outbreak
The deadly virus, that originated in China late last year, continues to spread around the world and has infected more than 94,000 people and claimed over 3,22 lives globally. 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.
On March 1, UN Humanitarian chief Mark Lowcock released USD 15 million from the Central Emergency Response Fund (CERF) to help fund global efforts to contain the virus. The announcement came soon after the WHO upgraded the global risk of the coronavirus outbreak to "very high" – its top level of risk assessment. The world health body has said that there is still a chance of containing the virus if its chain of transmission is broken.
SC-appointed interlocutors at Shaheen Bagh
After meeting the Shaheen Bagh protesters on Tuesday, March 3, Supreme Court-appointed interlocutors Sanjay Hegde and Sadhana Ramachandran issued a formal statement discussing the future course of action. Mentioning that the top court had directed them to resume the dialogue, the interlocutors stated that this was the second phase of interactions.
Hegde and Ramachandran stressed that they were not going to impose any decision on the protesters. Instead, they expressed hope that the protesters would embrace positive solutions for the best interest of the country. Moreover, the interlocutors conveyed their willingness to meet once the protesters were ready with a possible resolution of the current situation.
Earlier, they submitted their mediation report in a sealed cover to the Supreme Court. The Shaheen Bagh protests mainly led by Muslim women have been ongoing against CAA-NRC-NPR since December 15.
Updated 11:42 IST, March 5th 2020