Attempts are being made to create discord between India and Gulf countries, said highly placed government sources on Thursday. Officials were referring to a fake twitter handle of the Oman Princess which said that Indian workers would be expelled from Oman if India did not stop religious persecution of Muslims.

Indian Ambassador to Oman, Munu Mahawar tweeted and said, “I thank Mona Al Said for clarification on fake social media posts attributed to her. India values its friendly relations with Oman and will continue working closely with the government and people of Oman to further strengthen our special relationship”. Indian embassies in gulf nations have started warning Indian citizens against posting provocative messages on social media.

Indian officials also called the statement by the Organization of Islamic Cooperation as regrettable and factually incorrect. The OIC had recently urged India to prevent instances of Islamophobia.

On Thursday, MEA officials also outlined efforts by Indian embassies to source critical medical equipment. “In the past two weeks, around two dozen flights departed for India from five cities in China carrying nearly 400 tonnes of medical supplies, including RT-PCR test kits, Rapid Antibody Tests, PPE kits, thermometers, etc. Around 20 more flights are expected to bring supplies from China in the coming days”, said MEA spokesperson Anurag Srivastava. The MEA is also facilitating collaboration between Indian and foreign agencies for R&D on Remdesivir and PLX cell therapy.

India will also be receiving 5 lakh coronavirus testing kits from South Korea. “Six SUV-sized high-speed testing machines, which are in high demand, are being sourced from Roche in the USA. Our R&D labs are in touch with labs in Israel and Germany which are undertaking cutting edge work”, said the MEA spokesperson.

India has gifted 5 million HCQ tablets to different nations. The government is gifting medicines worth 5 million dollars to countries in the neighbourhood, Africa, Latin America, Central Asia, Eurasia, West Asia and North Africa. India is also exporting 285 million HCQ tablets to 40 countries and 500 million paracetamol tablets to 60 nations via commercial channels.

First Published:Apr 23, 2020 8:02 PM IST