- Created fear among people in Kurnool
- Naidu said that N 440K virus strain is prevalent
- He also described the new strain as more deadly than the others
- Advocate Subbiah from Kurnool files complaint
Kurnool: Its bad news for TDP Supremo Naidu. An FIR was filed against him for allegedly creating panic and fear among public over his remarks of new strain prevalent in Kurnool. When India is fighting with deadly COVID second wave, Naidu made a statement that N440K strain is prevalent in Kurnool which is more deadly than any strain and this pushed public of Kurnool to more panic, says FIR which was filed by advocate Subbiah.
A case has been registered in Kurnool police station under sections 188 and 505(1)(b)(2) of the Indian Penal Code(IPC) and section 54 of the Disaster Management Act. Naidu, in a meeting with party chiefs on ZOOM, made key remarks that corona virus that is spreading in AP is more dangerous than other viruses, which is of N440K strain. He also said that the virus was first identified in Kurnool by CCMB scientists which are 10 times more effective than other Corona viruses. TDP leaders say that Naidu read the article which was published in a leading newspaper (The Hindu published on May 4th and it was not his intentional or individual quote.
Opposition spreading poisonous propaganda: Sajjala
YCP General Secretary and State Government Advisor Sajjala Ramakrishna Reddy said that opposition party, TDP, is mainly spreading venom in public with false propaganda that there was new COVID variant in AP. He said that opposition should cooperate with Government to prevent mud politics in catastrophic situation. He made this remark after Delhi and Odisha Governments imposed restrictions on AP public transport after opposition campaign on new strain in AP.
No unique AP Strain: CCMB Director clarifies
CCMB Director Rakesh Mishra clarified that there is no evidence which showed that the N440K strain is deadly or more infectious than other variants.
“There is no unique AP strain or a Vishakapatnam strain. Neither were any existing strains found to be more infectious or deadly than what we already saw before. The N440K has been around for quite some time and was prevalent in other southern states (Karnataka, Kerala) earlier. But now the N440K in Andhra is less than 5 per cent and is likely to be replaced by a double mutant or any other variant. It could have been around during the first wave also,” he said. He also denied the news that it is 15 times more virulent in AP. There was some misinterpretation as our report said that virus grows 10 to 15 times more when grown in a culture. But culture is different kind of animal cell and that does not reflect infectivity in humans.
