Who better to lend a strong hand to spread awareness of COVID-19 than Bollywood legend Amitabh Bachchan himself? Late on Tuesday, he tweeted a photograph of a hand with the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation’s (BMC) home quarantine stamp.
From Monday, the stamp in indelible ink stating: “Proud to protect Mumbaikars. Home quarantined,” is being put on the back of the left hand of people who need to stay isolated at home for suspected exposure to the coronavirus. These are people who do not have any symptoms but have recently returned from the affected countries. They are supposed to self-quarantine or home quarantine for 14 days, wherein BMC will monitor their symptoms.
Mr. Bachchan tweeted alongside the picture, “Stamping started on hands with voter ink, in Mumbai .. keep safe, be cautious, remain isolated if detected.” The BMC handle in turn thanked him for spreading the word and “reiterating the need for #HomeQuarantine to those select few, for them to be safe, cautious & responsible towards not just near & dear ones, but all!”
However, the good effort also led to a bit of a confusion, with some assuming that Mr. Bachchan had been quarantined himself. However, his spokesperson told The Hindu that the picture was a representational image that had already been in circulation and not of his hand. Mr. Bachchan hasn’t travelled abroad recently, in fact he has been in Mumbai and working towards spreading awareness about COVID-19 among his fans.
He recently cancelled the Sunday practice of meeting his fans at his Juhu bungalow Jalsa. He advised them to take precautions and stay safe and careful.
Mr. Bachchan also tweeted about the World Health Organization and UNICEF asking him to send out video messages. A few days back, he had posted a video of the recitation of his self-penned poem on coronavirus. Written in Awadhi, it talks about how people are offering remedies like kalonji powder and amla juice, but the real deal to fight the virus is to maintain hygiene and keep washing hands with soap.
