The coronavirus pandemic continues to ravage the world as there is only despair left around everywhere with families losing their beloved ones everyday. As more people are testing positive for COVID-19, governments world over are trying to stop the spread of the deadly virus via vaccination drives and stepping up the requirement for oxygen. As India is currently in the second wave of COVID-19, there have been a significant number of people who succumbed to the virus, with personalities from the world of entertainment too bereaved of their loved ones. 

In that light, popular actress Meera Chopra, known to Tamil cinema fans as Nila from Anbe Aaruyire, Lee, Maruthamalai to name a notable few, had recently lost two of her cousins to COVID-19 in a span of 10 days. On April 29, Meera tweeted, "My cousin died in banglore yeaterday. His oxygen dropped and he couldnt get an #ICUBed for 24 hrs. He became extremely breathless and by the time he got a bed, his lungs collapsed. Is this a covid death or a murder?? He died bcoz we are medically handicapped bcoz our government."

On May 5, she posted another tweet and said, "Another cousin died of covid today. Ive seen 2 #CovidDeaths in my family in last 1 week. To be honest never felt this helpless and useless. Even anger has dissappeared bcoz mind and bidy has become numb. How many more?? Let me just say- #india has gone to the dogs!."
 

Questioning the need to pay GST, Meera wrote on her Twitter page on May 15, "I dont want to pay 18% gst when i cant get a bed in the hospital or an oxygen to breathe and live. #removeGST", while tagging Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Home Minister Amit Shah, Anurag Thakur, Minister of State for Finance, the Ministry of Finance and the Bharatiya Janata Party. 

 

Earlier, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said that the reduction or exemption of GST rates on items essential for battling COVID-19, either produced domestically or imported commercially, will create a situation for manufacturers where they will be unable to avail of input tax credit. This, in turn, could possibly lead to customers having to pay higher prices, and called the move to be counter-productive. "If full exemption from GST is given, vaccine manufacturers would not be able to offset their input taxes and would pass them on to the end consumer/citizen by increasing the price," she said.