In a queer exercise, the Gujarat govt released names, age, address and other details pertaining to people who tested Covid-19 positive in the state. These revelations began ever since breakout there. The Municipal Corporation at Ahmedabad, one of state’s major hotspots, has been releasing daily bulletins giving away identities of patients.
Apart from Ahmedabad, prominent regions like Bhopal too have their Municipalities release lists of patients with details attached. The Deputy Chief Minister, Nitin Patel, who also holds the Health portfolio, had announced weeks ago that the govt would publish details, including names and addresses, of those infected. Patel claimed the exercise was aimed at helping people know if they have interacted with any of the infected persons, in which case they could approach hospitals for testing. This would go a long way to curb the virus spread, he said.
On Friday, a Malayali woman ACP’s residence in Gujarat and ancestral home in Kerala flashed across social media identifying her as Covid infected. Prominent newspapers in Gujarat too list names, age , addresses and profession of those who test positive for the virus.
There is wide criticism that this kind of revelations are aimed at creating communal divisions in the state. Earlier, there were reports on Gujarat administering Covid treatments to patients after first segregating them on religious basis. Incidentally, fresh covid cases in the state continue to rise at rapid pace each passing day.
