Chief minister Mamata Banerjee on Tuesday appealed against letting rumours affect the distribution of newspapers and underscored that the media was exempt from the lockdown.

“Those working with newspapers, this is something I have to say…. Today, a lot of hawkers did not pick up newspapers. There is a problem,” the chief minister told a news conference in the state secretariat in the afternoon.

Some vendors’ unions in Calcutta and elsewhere in Bengal on Tuesday refused to pick up newspapers for distribution in the wake of rumours and misinformation on social media regarding the spread of Covid-19.

“I will tell them — the police administration has also been told — in no uncertain terms, the media stand exempted from the restrictions, even in our Complete Safety Restrictions scenario,” the chief minister said at Nabanna.

A man, wearing a mask, looks from a closed gate during coronavirus lockdown in Calcutta on Tuesday. PTI

The International News Media Association (INMA) has said, citing health agencies and medical experts, that there is no record or any evidence to suggest that the coronavirus is being transmitted through newspaper.

Mamata said vendors should not throw newspapers on the road before distribution or sale. “Please do not throw the papers on the road before your distribution or sale, this helps the virus spread more easily,” she said.

Mamata advised newspaper houses to ensure this does not happen. “You, the media, should wait with the papers in your vehicles, so that the hawkers can form queues of five, with sufficient gaps between each, and take them. They should not be dumped in one place for distribution, especially on roads…. This whole process has to be completed between 5am and 7am,” the chief minister said.

Mamata said her objective was not to inconvenience anybody, but the people needed access to newspapers. “People also have to read newspapers, how else will they come to know about anything on a day-to-day basis?” she said.

Mamata cautioned journalists against taking their own safety lightly. “Journalists, I keep telling you, you must keep distance, you tend to crowd and do gadagadi (gather in crammed spaces), even here (Nabanna). You must maintain distance,” she said.

“Or else — if doctors start getting infected, our health system will collapse — if you start getting infected, your system will also collapse,” she said. “We are all equally vulnerable, we must remember. Because you are journalists, the disease will not spare you. There can be no compromise with this disease.”