As India reports 4 lakh COVID-19 cases, old image of health minister sitting in protest at Bengal goes viral

New Delhi, May 08: As the number of COVID-19 cases in India surge, an image of the Union Health Minister, Dr. Harsh Vardhan sitting in protest in West Bengal has gone viral.

The message says that four thousand patients are dying due to COVID-19 everyday, most of them due to shortage of oxygen, beds, ICU, ambulances. Four lakh Indians are affected everyday. A deadlier third wave is in the making. The health minister is sitting in dharna to save democracy in Bengal, the message also says.

While it is true that the number of cases in India are surging and many are dying for want of medical facilities, the image shared of the health minister sitting in protest to save democracy in Bengal is an old one.

Dr. Harsh Vardhan himself had shared this image on his Facebook page on May 15 2019 and while pointing out to the violence in Bengal said that whatever is happening in West Bengal is unfortunate.

The land which gave us legendary personalities like Shri Ramakrishna Paramhans Ji, Shri Vivekanand Ji, Shri Raja Rammohan Roy Ji, Gurudev Shri Rabindra Nath Tagore Ji, Neta Ji Subhash Chandra Bose Ji and Shri Shyama Prasad Mukherjee Ji, has been turned into a killing field by Trinamool Congress Chief and state Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee Ji. You can read the rest of the post here. The image was shot at Jantar Mantar in Delhi.

On Friday, the health minister had said that all possible support will be provided to Bengal to deal with COVID-19. He also urged the state to ramp up testing especially in districts that were reporting a 40 per cent and above positivity rate.

Meanwhile India reported a grim number of 4.01 lakh lakh cases and a record 4,187 deaths in the last 24 hours.