'COVID Made on God's Computer', Says State Minister From PM Modi's Party

14:38 GMT, 26 August 2021

Radhika Parashar

COVID-19 has hit India particularly hard, especially between April 2020 and June 2021, leaving thousands of children orphaned who are now struggling to survive in the grim reality of the pandemic's aftermath. In the past year, more than 430,000 Indians died of the virus, according to the federal Ministry of Health and Family Welfare.

Sputnik

Chandra Mohan Patowary, Transport Minister in BJP-governed Assam state, said on Thursday that coronavirus was made on "God's computer" and that "God has listed all the people" who are painfully dying of the infection.

"COVID-19 is created in god’s computer. God has a list prepared of those who will die of it. That’s why footpath dwellers - despite not wearing masks - are not infected with the virus. And why the [World Health Organisation] hasn’t been able to invent a drug for it," said Patowary, a BJP politician, during a press interaction.

Atanu Bhuyan, editor-in-chief of renowned news channel from north-east India, DY365, tweeted Patowary's statement, thereby landing the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) member in hot water.

World

Cremation Crisis: Rising Death Toll is Drowning Burial Grounds in India in Dead Bodies

14 April 2021, 14:02 GMT

Earlier this month, the Assam's state government announced it would relax lockdown restrictions.

Health experts from the state have alerted authorities to the fact that in the case of a third wave, the state will suffer an acute shortage of beds. At present, Assam has 7,707 cases of COVID-19, government figures reveal.