Assam minister’s take on COVID origin: It came from God’s supercomputer

In a novel interpretation of how and where coronavirus originated, an Assam minister has said that COVID-19 came from ‘God’s supercomputer with 2% mortality.’ The deadly COVID-19 pandemic originated in China’s Wuhan and rapidly spread with the world still struggling to contain it. More than 210 million people have been infected so far and 44.7 lakh have died.

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“Nature has decided who would get infected, who won’t and  who would be taken away from Earth. This is happening from God’s supercomputer, which is not man-made. The computer decided on sending COVID-19 virus to Earth with 2% mortality,” minister Chandra Mohan Patowary said on Friday, reports ANI.

Patowary, the minister for transport, industries and commerce and three other departments, made the comments on Wednesday at an event to distribute financial assistance to widows of COVID-19 victims in Kamrup district.

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Patowary also blamed the World Health Organization, saying that they had failed to find a cure for a “small virus” like COVID-19 despite spending billions of dollars.

The Opposition Congress was quick to target the ruling BJP over Patowary’s comment. “It is beyond comprehension that an educated person, that too, a responsible minister can make such a comment. When a person cannot manage a bad situation he will obviously put the blame on God,” said Bobbeeta Sharma, media in-charge of opposition Congress, reports HT.

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Assam is one of the states in the northeast that is still combating the pandemic. Till date, Assam has recorded 586,940 COIV-19 cases with 5618 deaths. On Thursday, the state recorded 562 new cases, 11 deaths and a test positivity rate of 0.69%. 

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India has already had two waves of COVID-19, one in 2020 and the second – more deadlier — in March 2021. Though the second wave has ebbed now, experts have warned of a third wave that many say will affect children more. The logic being that they are the group that is completely unvaccinated.