A newspaper clipping claiming that the Bihar Health Department has found Coronavirus in poultry chicken samples it tested, is fake.
BOOM found that no such report was carried by Hindi daily Dainik Jagran and the Department of Animal Husbandry & Dairying, Bihar also confirmed that no samples of poultry chicken were tested for COVID-19.
The image going viral has the date April 12, 2020, on it with a report claiming that the Bihar Health Department had taken samples of poultry chicken from ten different places in the state and found them to be positive for Coronavirus. The report further claims that the state health department has advised people to avoid eating chicken.
The headline when translated reads, "Bihar Health Department's confirms coronavirus after retesting of poultry hen"
(In Hindi - बिहार स्वास्थ्य विभाग ने पोल्ट्री मुर्गी को पुनः जांच कर कोरोना वायरस पुष्टि की है ।)
BOOM received the viral image on its WhatsApp helpline number (7700906111) inquiring about it.
The text in the clipping when translated reads, "Bihar Health Department on Saturday 10 am collected samples of poultry hen from at several places and sent them to Patna for testing where a poultry hen tested positive for coronavirus. The health department cautioned Bihar and other states saying people should avoid eating poultry hens...."
(In Hindi - बिहार स्वास्थ्य विभाग ने शनिवार के सुबह दस अलग - अलग जगहों से पोल्ट्री मुर्गा का सैंपल पटना ले जाया गया जहां पर पोल्ट्री मुर्गा में कोरोनावायरस थी सामने आई है स्वास्थ्य विभाग ने बिहार एवं अन्य शहरों एवं राज्य के लोगों को हिदायत देते हुए कहा है की लोग पोल्ट्री मुर्गा : खाने से दूर रहे एवं पोल्ट्री उद्योग के मालिकों को हिदायत)
Viral on Facebook
On searching with the same text in the viral clipping we found that the fake newspaper clipping was being shared with the false claim.
Click here to view, and here for an archive.
Also Read: False: Coronavirus Found In Broiler Chickens
FACT-CHECK
On observing the viral newspaper clipping, we found that it was fake, as the masthead of Dainik Jagran was different from the original one and the date - 'April 12, 2020' mentioned was in English, which is not the case in Hindi newspapers.
Additionally, we searched for reports and accessed the online edition of the paper, and did not find any the referred article that is being shared. We contacted Danik Jagran who confirmed that the article in the viral clipping is fake.
Alok Mishra, Editor of Dainik Jagran, Patna edition told BOOM that no such news had been published by the paper saying, "someone has falsely attributed it to Dainik Jagran's name. Neither our masthead is like this nor this font is being used in our newspaper. The viral paper also shows the dateline in English which is not according to Dainik Jagran's style sheet. This baseless news has nothing to do with Dainik Jagran.'"
BOOM has previously fact-checked fake newspaper clippings that had been created using a newspaper generator tool. (Click here, here)
We also contacted the Department of Animal Husbandry & Dairying, Bihar who stated that there has been no such test conducted on chicken samples that were found to have Coronavirus. "This clipping is absolutely fake, we have not conducted any such test as being claimed in the post," said an official from the Animal Husbandry department.
The Bihar Health Department has also posted on Facebook that the viral newspaper clipping is fake.
This is viral in the backdrop of Bihar culling hundreds of chicken in Patna over bird flu cases as reported by ANI on March 28, 2020.
Also Read: False: Chicken Infected With Coronavirus In Bangalore
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