Truly appalled at his foolish comments. God save AP: Naidu tweets about Jagan’s corona is fever, flu comment

TDP president and former chief minister N Chandrababu Naidu took to his Twitter handle to take on Chief Minister Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy for consistently downplaying the public health risk of the burgeoning pandemic.

Addressing a press briefing on Monday, Jagan said about corona virus, “It is not as bad as the seasonal flu. It is like fever. It will go if you take proper care, wear masks, take proper diet and improve your immunity. If you take these steps, you can fight corona,” he prescribed.

At the same press meet, the Chief Minister said, “We cannot completely eliminate the virus. In fact, we should now accept it as part of our lives. The time has come for us to realize that corona has now become a partner in our life and will continue to be so. Till the time someone finds a vaccine, people have to live with corona virus. But one should not treat as deadly or infectious. Kindly do not harbor that corona is infectious or something. Call 104, doctors will come and provide, not need to come to hospitals. In most cases it will get cured.”

Reacting to Jagan’s personal beliefs and views on corona virus which are unscientific, Naidu tweeted, “What can I say about a man who keeps repeating #Coronavirus is just a fever? It is because of his sheer carelessness that AP now tops the charts in South India. Truly appalled at his foolish comments about making #Covid-19 an integral part of everybody’s lives. God save AP!”

This is not the first time that Jagan tried to undermine the severity of the deadly pandemic that has killed people by the dozens in the US, Italy, Spain and across the world. A day after Nimmagadda Ramesh Kumar postponed civic body elections when he was SEC, an angry Jagan said about Covid-19 on March 15, “A scare is being created, when there is no panic situation. Covid-19 can be harmful in cases of above 60 years people, with diabetes, blood pressure, asthma like conditions. This is a kind of virus that comes and goes. The virus inflicts those who are already sick and can cause harm to them. 80% of the people who are healthy are not affected by the disease – it comes and it goes. It may be cured by medication and that medication is paracetamol. Moreover, in China, those afflicted have been isolated into a stadium and treated. The virus is spreading from South Korea. In case anybody coming from foreign countries is found suffering from cough, cold and fever, bleaching powder should be sprayed on their belongings and things they use.”

The same day, Naidu warned the state government and cautioned Jagan not to take the virus casusally. In a tweet on March 15, Naidu tweeted “Coronavirus claims lives and it spreads VERY VERY fast. It cannot be taken lightly, especially by a man sitting on the CM’s chair. Shocked to see @ysjagan say that it can be treated with a Paracetamol.”