Moradabad: A team of doctors and other medical staff were attacked by the locals in Moradabad, a town in western Uttar Pradesh. Video footage of this incident is going viral on social media. Police and health workers reached the place to escort a possible COVID-19 patient to the hospital in order to quarantine him.
Reports suggest many have been injured. A police team escorting the doctors was also attacked.
Visuals from the Nawab Pura colony, located in the central part of the city, showed smashed police jeeps and a road littered with stones and bricks. Women also started throwing stones from the roofs.
Moradabad: Some people pelted stones at medical team&police which had gone to take a person possibly infected with ."When our team boarded ambulance with patient,suddenly crowd emerged&started pelting stones.Some doctors are still there.We are injured,"says ambulance driver pic.twitter.com/Rpo5jDRuJY
— ANI UP (@ANINewsUP)
Amit Pathak, a senior police officer in Moradabad, said a COVID-19 patient had died in the area and the doctors were trying to quarantine his immediate contacts.
"A medical and police team came here. When the family members were boarding ambulances, a crowd of around 150 people came and started pelting stones. A police car and an ambulance are damaged. We will identify the culprits and act against them," the officer added.
The driver of the ambulance that came under attack, was quoted as saying, "When our team boarded the ambulance with the patient, a crowd emerged and started pelting stones. Some doctors are still there, we all are injured."
State government data shows Moradabad has 19 coronavirus cases. A few days ago, chief minister Yogi Adityanath had ordered that the stringent National Security Act be invoked against those attacking doctors, policemen or others at the front line of the battle against coronavirus.
Yogi Adityanath further said that action would be taken against the accused. Any loss to public property will also be recovered from them, he said.