The Hindustan Times in an interview published on the 17th of April 2020 insinuated that spitting was not as much of a significant issue as people would like to believe. The headline and the caption for it in its tweet was probably designed to whitewash the threat that members of the Tablighi Jamaat has been posing with their relentless spitting on doctors and all around. However, it appears that the words of the ‘expert’ were deliberately misled to give the readers an inaccurate impression.

Source: Hindustan Times/Twitter

What the Professor actually said about health risks posed by Spitting

First of all, the said ‘expert’, Professor Ross Coomber, is the head of the department of sociology, social policy and criminology, University of Liverpool, the United Kingdom (UK). He is not an epidemiologist, he is not qualified enough to speak on the actual threat that spitting poses to the health of the community. Moreover, when the professor did speak about the low risk posed by spitting, he was not even referring to the Wuhan Coronavirus. Professor Coomber was specifically referring to diseases such as HIV, hepatitis A, B and C and said that in the case of tuberculosis, spitting was low in the hierarchies of risk factors.

What the Professor actually said

The Professor’s remarks about Spitting in the context of the Coronavirus

When it came to the Wuhan Coronavirus, the professor actually said that it was best to stop spitting altogether. He said, “Social distancing and sensible all-round behaviour (washing hands etc.) are probably the most important. It seems sensible to suggest that not forcefully projecting bodily fluids into the air should be behaviour but I would suggest that spitting to the ground is not the same as spitting into the air, which happens rarely. It is probably best and sensible to stop all projectile bodily emissions in the current context, whenever possible.”

Thus, quite clearly, Hindustan Times, in its bid to shield the gross behaviour of Tablighi Jamaat first asked a professor who does not have adequate authority to comment on the matter and even then, twisted his words to present a completely different picture so that the actual threat posed by the Islamic missionary organization could be downplayed. Meanwhile, members of the Tablighi Jamaat have spat on doctors and the healthcare staff in order to get them infected with the virus and their horrendous behaviour shows no signs of abating.

The deplorable conduct of Tablighi Jamaat

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Members of the Tablighi Jamaat have engaged in horrendous conduct ever since they were admitted to hospitals after being diagnosed with the Wuhan Coronavirus. They have spat on doctors, thrown tantrums and demanded ‘spicy beef biryani’ instead of the doctor prescribed food, sexually harassed the female healthcare staff at hospitals, refused to cooperate with the the healthcare staff and created ruckus and labeled deluded accusations at doctors. Furthermore, they have been trying to avoid detection by the administration and in certain cases, have switched off their mobile phones to avoid detection.