Story By: Alex Cope, Sub Editor: Joseph Golder, Agency: Newsflash

Newsflash/@hemantogale

Indian cops have filed a case against 40 people for gathering in the street to pay tribute to the country’s healthcare workers fighting coronavirus.

Footage of the group breaking the country’s social distancing measures to chant and play percussion in the Khadia area of the city of Ahmedabad in the western Indian state of Gujarat to pay tribute to India’s frontline staff was posted online.

In the video, dozens of people can be seen in the busy street, banging utensils and percussion instruments as they walked together on Sunday, when nationwide social distancing measures were brought into place.

Some can be seen waving the Indian flag as they tightly gather.

Local Police Commissioner Ashish Bhatia confirmed that a case had been filed against 40 people for ‘disobedience of an order duly promulgated by a public servant’ and under Section 3 of the Epidemic Diseases Act, 1897.

He added: “As long as lockdown continues, people should not come out of their homes, and if they do, they should not number more than four in a group. Three FIR (First Information Reports) have also been registered against people who returned from abroad and were found flouting quarantine rules.”

It is unclear if the 40 people who had the case filed against them were the organisers of the event or the participants.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi called for a curfew from 7am to 9pm on Sunday, with businesses shut and people staying at home.

The country has now placed 75 districts under lockdown until 31st March to stop the spread of COVID-19.

India has suffered 511 confirmed cases of COVID-19, resulting in 10 deaths.

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