Virus infects more than 1,700 health workers in China, 6 die
Beijing: More than 1,700 Chinese medical workers have been infected by the new virus that has killed nearly 1,400 people and spread to other parts of Asia and as far as the US and Europe, a senior Chinese official announced Friday.
Six of the workers have died, Zeng Yixin, vice director of the National Health Commission, said at a news conference.
The health commission is highly concerned about this issue" and has issued guidelines for the prevention and control of infection within medical institutions, he said.
Medical workers account for about 3.8% of confirmed cases as of three days ago, Zeng said.
The commission also reported another sizable rise in the number of infections as a result of a new way of counting adopted by Hubei province, the hardest-hit area.
Confirmed cases in mainland China rose to 63,851 by the end of Thursday, up 5,090 from the previous day. The death toll rose 121 to 1,380.
Hubei province is now including cases based on a physician's diagnosis before they have been confirmed by lab tests. Of the 5,090 new cases, 3,095 fell into that category.
The acceleration in the number of cases does not necessarily represent a sudden surge in new infections of the virus that causes COVID-19 as much as the revised methodology.
The health commission has said that the change was aimed at identifying suspected cases so they can be treated more quickly, though experts also saw it as a reflection of the crush of people seeking treatment and the struggle to keep up with a backlog of untested samples in Hubei and its capital, Wuhan, where the disease first surfaced in December.
In Taiwan, about 100 family members of people stuck in Hubei province protested outside Taiwan's Mainland Affairs Council headquarters in the capital, Taipei.
About 1,000 Taiwanese hoping to fly home on charter flights have sparked a dispute between their government and China.
One flight brought 247 people back on Feb. 4. Three were not on a passenger list that Taiwan gave to Chinese authorities and one tested positive for the virus, Taiwan's Central News Agency has reported.
Taiwan's Mainland Affairs Council wants China to step up quarantine work and reach agreements with Taiwan on the names of people on priority lists for flights.
China's Taiwan Affairs Office accused Taiwan on Wednesday of using all kinds of excuses to obstruct and delay flights. China sees self-ruled Taiwan as part of its territory rather than an independent state.
We don't want to politicize it, we want charter flights, said protester Chung Chin-ming, chairman of the Chinese Cross-Strait Marriage Coordination Association in Taipei.
Elsewhere, Japan confirmed seven more cases, a day after it reported its first death from the virus. Japan now has 258 confirmed cases, including 218 from a cruise ship, the Diamond Princess, that has been quarantined in Yokohama.
Health officials allowed 11 elderly passengers to leave the ship on Friday after they tested negative for the virus. They are the first group of dozens of older passengers expected to get off the vessel before their 14-day quarantine period ends on Feb. 19 to reduce risks of their health deteriorating.
Japanese Health Minister Katsunobu Kato on Thursday said passengers age 80 or older with chronic health issues or in cabins without windows that can open will be able to leave the ship if they pass the virus test.
More than 580 cases have been confirmed outside mainland China and three deaths, one each in the Philippines and Hong Kong and now a Japanese woman in her 80s. Health officials are investigating how she got infected.
In an unprecedented attempt to contain the disease, the Chinese government has placed the hardest-hit cities home to more than 60 million under lockdown. People are restricted from entering or leaving the cities, and in many places can only leave their homes or residential complexes for shopping and other daily needs.
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Cong says no plans to introduce inheritance tax, distances itself from Pitroda's remarks
New Delhi, Apr 24: The Congress on Wednesday asserted that it has no plans to introduce inheritance tax in the country as a row erupted over the remarks by its leader Sam Pitroda, who also later said that his comments on the issue had nothing to do with the party policy.
Pitroda had spoken about inheritance tax in the US while delving into the issue of redistribution of wealth. As the BJP latched on it to target the Congress, the opposition party first distanced itself from the remarks of the US-based president of its overseas wing and then launched a counter-offensive claiming it was the BJP that wanted to impose an 'inheritance tax'.
It cited the remarks made in the past by some ruling party leaders, including former union minister Jayant Sinha and the party's social media head Amit Malviya, to buttress its claim.
"I would like to categorically state that Congress has no plan on the inheritance tax. (Sam) Pitroda is a very distinguished professional and has made many contributions to the development of India. He expresses his views on the topic he feels strongly about.
"He has expressed his views in the American context, which has no relevance for us. He does not speak on behalf of the Congress," Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh said.
With his remarks triggering a row, Pitroda said on X, "It is unfortunate that what I said as an individual on inheritance tax in the US is twisted by Godi media to divert attention from what lies the PM is spreading about the Congress manifesto. PM's comments on Mangal Sutra and gold snatching is simply unreal."
"I mentioned US inheritance tax in the US only as an example in my normal conversation on TV. Can I not mention facts? I said these are the kind of issues people will have to discuss and debate. This has nothing to do with the policy of any party including Congress," he said.
"Who said 55 per cent will be taken away? Who said something like this should be done in India? Why is BJP and media in panic," Pitroda asked.
However, Prime Minister Narendra Modi seized on Pitroda's remarks on inheritance tax to step up the BJP's attack on the issue of "wealth redistribution", saying "zindagi ke saath bhi, zindagi ke baad bhi" is the opposition party's mantra to "loot" people.
Ramesh said it was former prime minister Rajiv Gandhi who had abolished Estate Duty in 1985.
He also shared a 15-minute speech by Jayant Sinha at the Forbes India Philanthropy Awards 2013 to claim that he was in favour of an inheritance tax.
"The Congress has no plan whatsoever to introduce an inheritance tax. In fact, Rajiv Gandhi abolished Estate Duty in 1985. Please listen to BJP MP Jayant Sinha, once MoS Finance in the Modi Sarkar, and later Chairman of the Parliamentary Committee on Finance.
"He has spent 15 long minutes vehemently arguing in favour of an Inheritance Tax of 55 per cent, like in the US," Ramesh said.
He also alleged that the prime minister "is worried and is scared and has been deliberately giving communal colour to our manifesto".
"He is deliberately making all kinds of allegations against us as he is set to be defeated this time and BJP is halved in the North and is wiped out in the South. So all this is being done to divert attention from the real issues.
"Pitroda ji's comments are being deliberately sensationalised and presented out of context to divert attention from the malicious and hate-filled election campaign of Prime Minister Narendra Modi," the Congres leader claimed.
Ramesh said in a democracy an individual is at liberty to discuss, express, and debate his personal views.
"This does not mean that Mr Pitroda's views always reflect the position of the Indian National Congress. Many times they do not," he said.
"Sensationalising his comments now and tearing them out of context are deliberate and desperate attempts at diverting attention away from Mr Narendra Modi's malicious and mischievous election campaign; that is anchored only in lies and more lies," Ramesh said in his post on X.
He also posted, "... In 2017, reports emerged that the Modi Sarkar was going to re-introduce inheritance tax. Fact Three: In 2018, the then Finance Minister Arun Jaitley praised Inheritance Taxes for spurring large endowments to hospitals, universities in the West."
"Fact Four: News reports emerged that Modi Sarkar would introduce an Inheritance Tax in Union Budget 2019," Ramesh said in another post.
In his poll rallies, Modi claimed that Pitroda's remarks have exposed the Congress' hidden agenda and that the party has become so removed from the country's social and family values that it wants to legally rob people of their assets and lifelong savings they want to bequeath to their children.
Home Minister Amit Shah also flayed Pitroda's remarks, saying "The appeasement politics of the Congress stand exposed today with Sam Pitroda's statement on wealth redistribution. He reaffirmed the party's intention to seize the property of the majority and distribute it among the minority.
"It yet again brings to the fore that the empowerment of India's poor, Dalits, youth, tribes, and backward classes was never on Congress's agenda," he said on X.
VIDEO | "I would like to categorically state that Congress has no plan on the inheritance tax. (Sam) Pitroda is a very distinguished professional and has made many contributions to the development of India. He has been a friend, philosopher and mentor to many people including me.… pic.twitter.com/utWLjjukjp
— Press Trust of India (@PTI_News) April 24, 2024
It is unfortunate that what I said as an individual on inheritance tax in the US is twisted by Godi media to divert attention from what lies PM is spreading about Congress manifesto. PM’s comments Mangal Sutra & gold snatching is simply unreal.
— Sam Pitroda (@sampitroda) April 24, 2024
