Science
Melbourne Muslims feel ‘unfairly tarnished’ by reports linking them to rising COVID-19 cases – ABC News
The Islamic Council of Victoria says there is an undertone in media reports suggesting the Muslim community is linked to the spike of coronavirus cases in Melbourne.
The Islamic Council of Victoria (ICV) has warned against scapegoating the Muslim community for the rising number of coronavirus cases in Melbourne while backing calls from AFL star Bachar Houli for more people to get tested.
Key points:
- The Islamic Council of Victoria says the Muslim community is not overrepresented in the coronavirus caseload
- Leaders say conspiracy theories have spread in the Muslim community, but no more than among the broader public
- Islamic organisations are working with other multicultural and interfaith groups to disseminate public health messages
The call comes as Melbourne’s Islamic Al-Taqwa College remains the state’s biggest cluster with 144 cases and after recent media reports have linked other clusters to Eid celebrations, which marked the end of the fasting month in May.
ICV vice-president Adel Salman told the ABC that some media reports had “unfairly tarnished” the Muslim community as being irresponsible and the cause of the current increase of cases, even if the articles did not explicitly call out Muslims.
“There’s sort of an undertone and innuendo
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