53 Journalists from Mumbai Test 'Positive' for COVID-19

Mumbai, April 20, 2020:

In a sensational development, as many as 53 journalists in Mumbai, the epicentre of the COVID-19 in India, have tested positive for the contagion.

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According to a report carried in Huffpost India, samples of 167 Mumbai journalists had been collected for the test, and 53 tests yielded a 'positive' result. The numbers are likely to go up, Shiv Sena leader and Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation’s health committee member Amey Ghole told the publication.

These 53 journalists include reporters, cameramen of news channels and photojournalists, the publication said.

An official in the BrihanMumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) said that most are said to be asymptomatic cases and all have been sent to home quarantine for now while others’ test results are awaited.

Following a request from the TVJA and Mantralaya & Legislature Reporters Association, Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray had directed the BMC to conduct the special screening camp for media persons.

Coordinated by Sena MP Priyanka Chaturvedi, 171 media-persons including reporters and camera-persons were screened on April 16-17 near the Mumbai Press Club, the reports of which have started coming.

The media persons who mostly perform field duties – were also given tips to ensure their personal safety in public places, wearing masks, using sanitizers, etc in view of the COVID-19 pandemic.

A similar situation of panic unfurled last month in Bhopal when a journalist who had attended a press conference by former CM Kamal Nath tested positive for the virus. The journalist’s daughter had returned from abroad and tested positive a few days prior.

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Zeba Warsi, a CNN-IBN correspondent, sharing the news on Twitter, wrote that after the scribe was tested positive for the COVID-19 virus strand, most journalists in Bhopal were asked to self quarantine and get tested if they show any symptoms. The journalist who has tested positive had attended a Press conference recently, she went on to add.

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