Chandigarh: Haryana Health Minister Anil Vij on Saturday sought to link various viral outbreaks, including novel coronavirus, to non-vegetarian diet and advised people to be vegetarian.
"Shakahari bano tarah-tarah kay jeev jantu khakar corona jaise virus paidakar manav jaati k liye khatra paida na karo (Be vegetarian. Do not create viruses like coronavirus that poses danger to humanity by having (meat of) different kinds of animals," the minister, who himself is a vegetarian, tweeted on Saturday.
With rumours doing the rounds that coronavirus spreads through non-vegetarian food like eggs, chicken, mutton and seafood, Union Fisheries, Dairying and Animal Husbandry Minister Giriraj Singh had, a few days back, asked people not to pay attention to them.
He had said that even the World Organisation for Animal Health as well as the Indian food safety regulator FSSAI have said there was no scientific evidence to prove the transmission of coronavirus from animals to humans.
Vice President M Venkaiah Naidu too had on Friday asked the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) to issue an advisory to allay the concerns of people on the consumption of chicken and eggs in the wake of fears about the impact of coronavirus on the poultry industry.
The virus, which has so far infected 1,31,500 people in 116 countries and territories and killed more than 4,900, is believed to have originated in a wet market in the central city of Wuhan, where a range of wildlife was reportedly sold.