Friday, March 29, 2024
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HomeCoronavirusMessages Viral On Social Media About Coronavirus Are FAKE! Here’s A Fact...

Messages Viral On Social Media About Coronavirus Are FAKE! Here’s A Fact Check

Authors

Shaminder started off his career as a freelance journalist for a consulting and research firm. He has been a Political Strategist and Media Manager. Before joining Newschecker, he worked with various reputed media agencies like Daily Post India, PTC News.

With the outbreak of Coronavirus, panic has been triggered across the world. Thousands of people have been affected and 106 have been killed in China. However, in India, no confirmed case of Coronavirus has been reported till date.

With the Coronavirus outbreak, fear-mongering messages are doing rounds on various social media platforms. A message viral on social media claims that the Ministry of Health has issued an emergency notification to the public on the methods of prevention of Coronavirus.

We found that several users on social media including Twitter and Facebook shared the same viral message on their respective handles.

The viral message advisory also stated methods of prevention and precaution such as till the end of March 2020, do not go to crowded places, wear a mask as needed especially in a train or public transportation and avoid fried or spicy food and increase the intake of vitamin C.

Meanwhile, Newschecker received the same viral message on its WhatsApp helpline number from a user asking us to verify the claim.

Fact Check/Verification

As we began our fact check, we checked India’s Ministry of Health’s official website and its official Twitter handle. During our search, we found that India’s MoH has only issued a travel advisory on January 17, 2020, to people who are visiting China. However, with the increase in the number of cases, MoH issued a revised advisory on January 25, 2020.

Meanwhile, we also found a list of preventive steps to be taken on the Ministry of Health’s official Twitter handle. The prevention steps which are enlisted by the Ministry of Health are recommended by the World Health Organisation.

The steps include frequently washing and cleaning the hands with soap, covering one’s mouth and nose while sneezing, avoiding contact with those who have fever and cough, thoroughly cooking meat and eggs, among others.

We also fact-checked the viral message prevention and precaution measures. The message stating that people should not go to crowded areas till March 2020 is false as the root cause of this virus is still anonymous.

We also found that viral message stating measures for prevention of Coronavirus like keeping your throat moist is untrue as no country has issued an advisory about drinking only a certain amount of water or don’t let your throat dry. As per the reports, Novel Coronavirus is neither associated with spicy food nor vitamin C.

Conclusion:
Newschecker’s team fact-checked the viral claim and found that message viral on social media claiming that Ministry of Health has issued an emergency notification to the public on the methods of prevention of Coronavirus were found out to be misleading. So far, MoH has only issued a travel advisory to people who are visiting China whereas message which advises people to keep their throats moist and avoid public places till March 2020, among other things were found to be incorrect.
Sources
Result: Misleading
(If you would like us to fact check a claim, give feedback or lodge a complaint, WhatsApp us at 9999499044. You can also visit the Contact Us page and fill the form)

Authors

Shaminder started off his career as a freelance journalist for a consulting and research firm. He has been a Political Strategist and Media Manager. Before joining Newschecker, he worked with various reputed media agencies like Daily Post India, PTC News.

Shaminder Singh
Shaminder Singh
Shaminder started off his career as a freelance journalist for a consulting and research firm. He has been a Political Strategist and Media Manager. Before joining Newschecker, he worked with various reputed media agencies like Daily Post India, PTC News.

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