During an April 8 broadcast, in the usual Republic Bharat mannerism, channel anchors Shweta Shrivastav and Shweta Tripathi yelled a piece of ‘breaking news’ onto television screens. As the camera shifted focus from Shrivastav on the top floor of the studio to Tripathi on the ground, viewers were told that eight family members associated with Tablighi Jamaat tested positive for coronavirus in Madhya Pradesh’s Khargone. The anchors contacted channel correspondent Satyavijay for further details. He blamed Noor Mohammad for spreading the infection to his family and claimed that Mohammad had visited Nizamuddin Markaz in Delhi after returning from a foreign trip. He subsequently came back to Khargone where he did not inform local authorities that he showed symptoms for COVID-19, added Satyavijay further stating that Noor Mohammad died on March 28. He also said that Mohammad’s mother passed away. “Jamaat is the root of coronavirus cases in Madhya Pradesh,” declared the channel correspondent adding, “Had Noor Mohammad informed on time, he would have perhaps been kept in isolation.” Shrivatsav concurred with Satyavijay’s opinion and termed members of Tablighi Jamaat “shameless” – a word that was continually flashed on TV screens along with similar words such as ‘badtameez (ill-mannered)’, ‘behudi (stupidity)’ and ‘besharam jamaati (shameless jamaati)’. ANI tweeted on the case on April 8. The news agency quoted Khargone district magistrate Gopal Chandra Dad as saying, “The attendee and his mother died due to the disease.” Eight members of a family have tested positive in Khargone, Madhya Pradesh as they came in contact with an infected member who attended Tablighi Jamaat event in Delhi last month. The attendee & his mother have died due to the disease: District Magistrate GC Dad pic.twitter.com/eDk7EQ2jqp — ANI (@ANI) April 8, 2020 While Noor Mohammad indeed visited Nizamuddin Markaz after a foreign trip (South Africa) and later returned to Khargone, he is not dead. Alt News spoke with Mohammad who informed that he and his wife returned to Khargone on March 21 and his entire family was examined by district health officials in their residence on March 24. “I had an on-and-off fever since the day I began travelling back to MP from Delhi. I had informed the health officials about my trip to South Africa which they were already aware of since the local administration had kept a list of all people with a history of foreign travel.” None of the family members was admitted to the hospital at the time since they did not run a fever. “My fever wasn’t continuous and it used to act up at night. It is possible that my temperature was recorded normal as the health officials had visited during the day,” said Mohammad adding that he was advised home-quarantine. It is worthwhile to note that testing strategies have been evolving in the country as the disease is progressing. According to earlier guidelines by the Ministry of Health, testing was mostly limited to symptomatic people with a travel history or close contacts of positive cases. This explains why health officials were more concerned about Mohammad’s trip to South Africa. His visit to Nizamuddin was of little consequence on March 24 when the area was not identified as a hotspot. On March 31, reports came pouring in about a cluster of cases from the Tablighi Jamaat event held last month. “I contacted the doctors again and told them that I’m coming down to the hospital with my wife,” said Mohammad. District Magistrate Gopal Chandra Dad also informed Alt News that Mohammad had visited the district hospital on March 31, after the news about Nizamuddin Markaz broke out. This is when the couple’s samples were collected and they were admitted to the hospital. “Their results came out on April 4. Noor Mohammad tested positive while his wife tested negative,” informed Mohammad’s nephew Yasir Pathan. Below is a circular by the district administration which was issued after Mohammad and another patient from Khargone, Lalit Patidar, was tested positive on April 4. The circular informs that both their residences are epicentres and areas within 3 km radium are to be regarded as containment areas. On April 9, Mohammad’s nephew Pathan filed a complaint with Khargone police on Republic Bharat’s misreport that Mohammad had passed away due to the infection on March 28. “Mohammad was transferred to Indore’s MRTB Hospital on April 4 where he was kept till April 11. He was discharged on April 12 after he tested negative twice,” said Pathan who sent us a video recorded by Mohammad from the hospital after he heard that rumours of his death were floating in the media. Dainik Bhaskar had reported about Mohammad’s discharge on April 13.