As the whole world is following social distancing to avoid getting infected from the deadly virus COVID 19, a self proclaimed Godman died of the virus as he kissed people by making them believe that he is going to cure them through this gesture. He made his followers believe that he could cure them by “kissing their hands”. The so called black magic healer belongs to Ratnam district, Madhya Pradesh and died on 4th of June. This “kissing practice” has been discovered after people who had contact with him tested positive.

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“He got himself tested positive for Coronavirus after he began having severe symptoms, and passed away immediately” Ruchika Chauhan, Ratlam’s District Magistrate said. Seven of his family members and his thirteen followers has been found positive during the contact tracing. The authorities has said that they have started their investigation and are trying to contain the transmission.

Gaurav Tiwari, Superintendent of Police has reported that over 50 people have contact-traced after the death of the alleged healer. In the district’s Nayapura region where the healer visited, more than 150 people were quarantined to avoid transmission. The followers of the deceased reached him seeking superstitious guidance, despite of the government campaigns which raised awareness against such practices, said the Area’s Nodal officer Dr.Pramod Prajapati.

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To our shock, after this incident, 20 such self proclaimed godmen were arrested by a special intelligence team. District Magistrate Chauhan said that they were all under quarantine now. Despite of government’s severe scanning, such babas are still finding ways to spread the virus to earn money and causing harm to themselves. In Punjab, 40,000 people from 20 villages were placed under quarantine because of one religious preacher who attended a religious ceremony earlier in March.

India has now reached the fourth spot in the highest number coronavirus cases in the world with three lakh nine thousand positive cases and 8,884 people died of the virus. The alleged healer’s fake claims of curing people with his kisses has contributed to making the district a coronavirus hotspot, with 85 confirmed cases and 45 active cases.

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Government of India is constantly advising people to follow social distancing during this tough time. This act of people getting kiss from a self styled godman and being a cause for spread has created huge outrage across the social media.