Bollywood actress Sunny Leone distributed vegan meals to needy people in Mumbai, India on Sunday, while promoting an organisation the blames the world's meat industry for causing Covid-19.
Leone donned a floral mask and a t-shirt with the slogan '#take pandemic off the menu' as she handed out food packets to the waiting crowd, many of whom waited around for pictures with their favourite star.
Speaking at the event, Leone said: 'We are facing a crisis, but together with compassion and solidarity we will come out ahead.'
She was joined by husband David Weber for event with Million Dollar Vegan - an organisation that claims pandemics 'are a shocking but inevitable consequence' of the meat industry, according to its website.
Bollywood actress Sunny Leone distributed food packets to needy people in Mumbai, India on Sunday
Leone donned a floral mask and a t-shirt with the slogan 'take pandemic off the menu' as she handed out vegan meals to the waiting crowd
The former porn star Sunny Leone swapped her usual finery for a casual t-shirt and jeans to hand out food parcels in Mumbai on Sunday
The Bollywood actress was flanked by fellow volunteers as she helped distribute food packages to needy people in Mumbai on Sunday
Earlier this year, Leone took part in an initiative to feed 10,000 migrant workers in New Dehli with meals of daal and rice.
Leone, real name Karenjit Kaur, is known for appearing in 2013 films Shootout at Wadala and Kaizad Gustad's Jackpot.
The Canadian-American citizen previously appeared in pornographic films. More recently, Leone has raised money for several charities including People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA).
It comes after Sunny Leone was widely praise for taking part in an initiative to feed 10,000 migrant workers in New Delhi during the second wave of the pandemic earlier this year
Onlookers snapped pictures and videos of Bollywood actress Sunny Leone as she handed out vegan meals for a charity in Mumbai on Sunday
Several of the crowd waited behind for a pictured with their favourite Bollywood actress on Sunday
Sunny Leone wore a t-shirt with the slogan '#take pandemics off the menu' and a floral mask as she handed out food parcels to the needy on Sunday
The Bollywood star garnered praise earlier this year when she took part in an initiative to feed 10,000 migrant workers in New Delhi
It comes as India has been fighting a serious third wave of coronavirus for the past month
It comes as India has been fighting a serious third wave of coronavirus for the past month.
Many of the countries ghats, the steps at the edge of river where Hindus traditionally burn their dead, the crematoriums and cemeteries, have become overwhelmed.
Crematoriums in New Delhi were last month running out of wood, such was the volume of dead each day.
And there was several incidents of suspected coronavirus victims washing up on the banks of the River Ganges in the northern states of Bihar and Uttar Pradesh after they were dumped by families unable to find space to cremate their loved ones or not been able to afford the last rites.
Meanwhile grisly footage posted online last week showed stray dogs eating human remains washed up on the banks of an Indian river.
Health workers are set up around the country to record the temperature of citizens
India has been fighting a serious third wave of Covid-19 and last month saw crematoriums running out of wood, such was the volume of dead each day
Although the number of cases is starting to decline, the country is expected to face an increasing daily death toll for weeks to come
Hospitals, morgues and crematoriums have been overwhelmed, with many areas of the country suffering chronic oxygen shortages.
In recent weeks, a horrifying Covid-19 complication has also swept the country, with thousands of people contracting black fungus.
The wave of infections with the previously very rare condition has been blamed on excessive use of steroids to treat the country's millions of Covid patients, experts say.
Mucormycosis, as it is scientifically known, is highly aggressive and surgeons sometimes have to remove patients' eyes, nose and jaw to stop it reaching the brain. The death rate is over 50 percent.
India normally deals with fewer than 20 black fungus cases a year but now there are several thousand across the country including more than 2,000 in Maharashtra state, home to India's financial capital Mumbai.
At least nine Indian states have declared the problem an epidemic. The cities of New Delhi, Mumbai, Ahmedabad and Bangalore have opened special wards.
Before the coronavirus pandemic, only those with severely compromised immunity, such as HIV or organ transplant patients, were at risk.
Although the number of cases is starting to decline, the country is expected to face an increasing daily death toll for weeks to come.
India has reported an official death toll of 340,702 - but analysis published by the New York Times last week said this figure was more likely to be 1.6 million.
The paper projected that while this was the likely toll, the worst-case scenario could be as high as 4.2 million Covid deaths in the country of 1.4 billion.
By comparison, Britain recorded just 13 deaths on June 5 and more than 127,000 fatalities in total. The US has recorded about 590,000, also suspected to be an undercount, in a population of about 330 million.
Vinod Paul, head of India's coronavirus task force, dismissed the study and said it was 'not backed by any evidence and is based on distorted estimates.
'Our number is 0.05 per cent of those infected. They've said 0.3 per cent. Why? On what basis have you decided that it's 0.3 per cent of that large infection universe? There is no basis at all. Five people get together, make phone calls to each other and then throw this number. That's how this report has been done,' Mr Paul told NDTV.
'There may be some late reporting of deaths but there's no intent of any state or the Centre. If I apply the same three times yardstick to New York, then there would be 50,000 deaths. But they say it's 16,000. So this is distorted,' he added.
Four relatives carry a dead body of a Covid-victim past shallow graves covered with cloths on the banks of the Ganges River in Shringverpur village
Rains exposed the cloth coverings of bodies buried in shallow graves in the sand of the riverbank in Prayagraj, a city in Uttar Pradesh state
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