'No Corona No': Ramdas Athawale's Slogan for New Covid-19 Strain Sparks Memes on Twitter

After the viral 'Go Corona Go' slogan, Union Minister Ramdas Athawale has come back with yet another "catchy" one-liner, even as a new strain of coronavirus from the United Kingdom filled health officials and epidemiologists as well as governments around the world with renewed concerns.

"Earlier I gave the slogan 'Go Corona, Corona Go' and now corona is going. For the new coronavirus strain, I give the slogan of 'No Corona, Corona No', Athawale told news agency ANI in a press conference on Sunday.

His comments come even as the new strain of coronavirus from UK kept the government on its toes, despite no such cases being detected in India yet. The country, nevertheless, recorded 22,065 new coronavirus cases in the last 24 hours, the lowest one-day figure in over five months, taking the total Covid caseload to over 99.06 lakh.

The country also witnessed 354 deaths in the last 24 hours, pushing the total death count to 1,43,709. Over 94.22 lakh people in the country have recovered since the beginning of the pandemic. India, which reported its first case on January 30, is the second worst-hit country in the world by the pandemic after the United States.

As was the case with the previous slogan, this one too was instantly met with jokes and memes on social media.

And meanwhile Covid-19 virus in India who are preparing to the 2nd wave, transformed themselves in Covid-20 potential! pic.twitter.com/z0w7sgq8mo

— SANATANI (@im_01a_freak) December 27, 2020

In February, a video of Athawale, Chinese Consul General in Mumbai Tang Guocai and Buddhist monks chanting "Go corona, go corona" at a prayer meeting went viral on social media.

The video was reportedly shot at Gateway of India on February 20 during a prayer session to stop the spread of the coronavirus in China.

The viral slogan had met with much ridicule and questions as critics questioned the efficiency of the government's approach to handling the Covid-19 pandemic in India. In April, however, Athawale doubled down on his creation and claimed that the "Go Corona Go" slogan that he coined has now become famous all over the world.

The minister said questions were raised earlier if such a slogan would help but its widespread use has proved the efficacy of the slogan.