Responding to Narendra Modi's call to clap for the selfless services of nurses, paramedics, doctors, armed forces, policemen, journalists, etc. in the country at 5pm on Sunday, millions came out of their houses, stood in balconies, and gleefully clapped out of gratitude. However, some of them displayed heights of stupidity, thinking that the war on Coronavirus has already been won!

In Chennai, an apartment complex witnessed the silly sight of several people assembling and bursting crackers. They simply didn't understand that they were defying Janata Curfew and also putting many and themselves at a risk by not practising social distancing. Also, it is a big irony that they burnt crackers at a time when COVID-19 causes respiratory illnesses!

Several Twitter users spoke of how some people came out on roads and took out bike rallies. This is yet another proof that they have been misled by ridiculous WhatsApp forwards that are fooling the gullible into believing that the novel Coronavirus gets killed in 12 hours flat, following which there won't be anything left in India and that's why Janata Curfew is the only war we need to win!

In several towns, hundreds started coming out of their houses and carrying on with their normal activities on roads as though the clapping had ended the Janata Curfew.

Too many WhatsApp messages are peddling pseudo-science. It's good that the curfew has been extended till March 31 in several States.

What former cricketer Irfan Pathan tweeted out on Sunday evening makes utmost sense. "When we won the World Cup in 2007 and 2011. That night whole country came out on the road and celebrated the victory. Don’t do that tonight. We haven’t won the battle just yet against COVID-19," he wrote on Twitter.