Bengaluru: As reported by a local Kannada channel, four Muslim youths, who returned from Dubai, refused to undergo tests to detect the presence of Coronavirus. 

The local channel added that the four youths blatantly refused to undergo the screening on the grounds that their religion Islam doesn’t permit them to do so. 

The incident was reported from Bhatkal, Karnataka. 

With a view to curb the consequences of the virus, the district administration has set up quarantine centres and also taken up a door-to-door campaign among others. but this move of the four youths has put them in a quandary. It has also endangered the lives of others.

When the four youths returned to Bhatkal on Friday, the district authorities asked them to submit themselves for the procedure. But it is said the four youths outright refused to fall in line, bringing in the issue of religion. 

Alarmed at the attitude of these four Muslim youths, the locals, feeling threatened, have prevailed upon the authorities to quarantine them and ascertain if they have contracted the virus. 

At the same time, it is pertinent to note that the authorities have quarantined 14 members of a single family who returned from Mecca and Medina. 

Karnataka also saw the death of a 76-year-old man who passed away due to the virus in Kalaburagi. He also became the nation’s first citizen to have died of the deadly virus. 

PM Modi will be leading India in a meet over ways to curb the spread of the Coronavirus. The meet will be via videoconferencing and SAARC members are expected to take part in it this evening at 5 pm. 

The deadly virus has affected more than a lakh people worldwide and killed more than 5000 people till date. 

The WHO has declared it to be a pandemic and the entire globe is fighting it on a war-footing.