Due to the rampaging numbers of casualties in the rural areas of India and other affected areas, the authorities have begun to take stricter measures to limit online content referring to the COVID-19 India variant, reported The Verge.
Letters sent out to social media outlets
According to a source, a letter from the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology was sent last Friday, but for those concerned only. Although some news media were able to see the official letter, noted Reuters.
It was not stated who got the letter first among the social media outlets, but reports said that there was a strict order by the government for Twitter to censor tweets mentioning the banned term. Included in the extensive ban were Facebook and Instagram to strike down all posts questioning how the Indian government handled the rampaging outbreak.
The letter allegedly further stated that the World Health Organisation (WHO) does not acknowledge that an Indian strain of the virus exists. Furthermore, the WHO has never given association to the Indian Variant with the B.1.617 variant in their official reports. Also, the letter added that the phrase is false. Thus, the government is banning references to the COVID-19 India variant because the strain does not exist.
Based on earlier reports last year, B.1.617 was first mentioned in India, and that it caused the second wave of COVID-19 cases in the South of Asia. A CBC report said that the WHO has noted that the Indian Variant is getting global concern of late among the current existing strains.
WHO, other health organizations and scientists have raised several concerns. Scientists disapproved of attributing viral types to geographic nicknames, saying it is incorrect and causing a negative association full of inaccuracies.
Part of the WHO 2015 guidance discourages giving names based on certain categories. More or less, these guidelines should be followed strictly to prevent problems that may arise by providing the wrong term.
National Geographic noted how the virus variants are given their terms, although it shared the same problems with the same confusion in coming up with names that non-scientists could understand.
According to Nat Geo, the WHO should collaborate with virologists to devise a more efficient method to call viruses.
One of the goals of Delhi wanting to ban terms like the COVID-19 India variant is when attempts to rein in the virus seem to be not working. Many see this as a failure on the government's end; keeping a ban on tweets and social media may be a way to lessen misconceptions and mistakes that further impact the situation.
The government bans references to the COVID-19 India variant to keep people away from the wrong information and to make the correct information available to the public.
Related article: India Mass Burial Site of COVID-19 Victims Along Ganges River Revealed by Drone Video
