Karnataka has witnessed a surge in the number of coronavirus cases over the past few days and the state's Health Minister B. Sriramulu's statement that only God can turn a savior now while appealing for public cooperation to contain the spread of the novel coronavirus has created an uproar among the state's opposition. Addressing the media at Chitradurga on Wednesday, the minister said his statement had come as a response to the opposition, Congress' allegations that the government was not combating the spread of the COVID-19 outbreak to the best efforts. However, he has since then claimed that a section of the media has 'misinterpreted' his statements, which have gone on to create controversy.
Speaking to reporters on Wednesday, Sriramulu said, "Tell me whose hand it is (to control the disease). Only God has to save us all. Awareness among people is the only way. In such a situation, the Congress leaders have stooped to the lowest level of politics. It doesn’t suit anybody,".
Congress state chief D K Shivakumar and former Chief Minister Siddaramaiah had earlier accused the ruling government of their failure to prevent the spread of the coronavirus. They cited the government’s inability to coordinate the differences between ministers, citing the issues between Sriramulu and Medical Education minister Dr K Sudhakar.
Mr Sriramulu went on to say that the next two months are going to be crucial adding the disease spreading across the country does not look at who the ruling and opposition members are before infecting them. He went on to state the claims of differences between ministers and the 'irresponsibility' of the government led to the rise in the number of COVID-19 cases in the state and outright shut down the opposition's charges.
Having said that, Sriramulu issued a clarification later saying God has to turn savior while cooperation from the people was vital considering a vaccine to combat the disease is yet to be developed. Appearing in a late night video on Wednesday, he said, "I had said that besides people’s cooperation, God should also protect us but some media interpreted that Sriramulu has become helpless with respect to coronavirus spread,". He further added, "My intention behind saying so was that till the time a vaccine comes, it is only God who can save us. It should not be wrongly interpreted,".
Karnataka recorded its highest single day spike of 3,176 infections on Wednesday taking the state’s overall coronavirus cases to 47,253. A total of 928 people have succumbed to the disease in the state with 18,466 discharges and 27,853 active cases being recorded, according to the State Health department.