Former Indian cricketer Munaf Patel, who has not been in news since his retirement, is back again – but this time as someone who is helping his community fight the pandemic.
Munaf recently posted pictures from a COVID-19 facility in his village Ikhar, which falls in the Bharuch district of Gujarat.
In his post, he thanked the health officials and the government for supporting him.
The village, with a population of 8000, got in a state of panic when 5 people tested positive for Covid-19.
This made it the only village in the region to have corona cases, and hence it was given the status of a containment zone.
Realising his responsibility as someone people look up to, Munaf started encouraging them to maintain social distancing and take other precautions.
In an interview given to The Times of India, Ikhar sarpanch Haroon Haindi said:
It was only after Munaf convinced the local police and health officials that farmers will maintain social distancing that they were allowed to harvest crops. During the lockdown, Munaf visited the panchayat office daily and spent hours discussing and planning ways to prevent the virus spread. Villagers followed his instructions and it proved to be a blessing for us.
From that to now making a COVID-19 facility, Munaf has really rose to the occasion and is being appreciated on the social media for the same: