An Indian spiritual healer who claimed to have a cure for the deadly novel coronavirus by kissing the hands of infected patients has died of the virus.
Reports indicate that the spiritual leader has so far infected 20 of its followers.
His followers contracted the virus after he kissed the hands of his devotees telling them the kisses would rid their lives of problems.
He also claimed his ‘kiss-cure’ worked on coronavirus patients; despite the virus spreading through contagious droplets from the mouth or nose.
Indian Health department officials indicated that the man contracted the virus himself and tested positive on June 3. The officials began contact tracing those who had been in contact with the healer and took 40 swab samples to identify any further cases.
Twenty of those swabs returned a positive result, including seven members of the man’s family.
As of 17th June 2020, India’s Ministry of Health and Family Welfare has confirmed a total of 354,161 cases, 187,552 recoveries and 11,921 deaths in the country. India currently has the largest number of confirmed cases in Asia and has the fourth-highest number of confirmed cases in the world.
A surge in infections has swept across the country since lockdown measures were eased, with almost 10,000 new cases reported on Thursday. Hospitals remain swamped with Covid-19 patients in the worst-hit cities of Mumbai, New Delhi and Chennai.
