A graphic purporting to be from India Today claiming the ongoing 21-day lockdown set to end on April 14 has been extended to May 4, 2020, is morphed and fake.
The viral image, which includes a photo of the prime minister, has several grammatical mistakes.
The text says 'all-India lockdown increased till 04th May'. It also says 'India under lockdown dates increased' and 'PM announces to shut down everything till 04th May'.
BOOM found that the image is heavily photoshopped and no such graphic was aired by the English news channel.
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Several readers sent BOOM the image on our helpline number (7700906111)
We also received requests to fact check the image on Facebook.
Fact Check
If one notices the image carefully, the lines about an extension to the lockdown, appear heavily pixelated - a telltale sign that an image has been tampered with.
BOOM also found that India Today and other Indian news channels do not write single-digit dates as double digits for example - 04th May.
Videos uploaded by India Today on PM's address since the pan India lockdown can be seen below.
On March 24, 2020 Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced a pan-India total lockdown for three weeks to arrest the spread of COVID-19 in India. The lockdown is expected to be lifted on April 14th. Since then social media has been flooded with speculation that the lockdown might be extended.
However, on March 30, 2020 the Press Information Bureau of the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting tweeted, saying Cabinet Secretary Rajiv Gauba has denied speculation in the media that the government will extend the lockdown.
Alert : There are rumours & media reports, claiming that the Government will extend the #Lockdown21 when it expires. The Cabinet Secretary has denied these reports, and stated that they are baseless#PIBFactCheck#lockdownindia #coronaupdatesindia #IndiaFightsCorona
— PIB India 🇮🇳 #StayHome #StaySafe (@PIB_India) March 30, 2020
I'm surprised to see such reports, there is no such plan of extending the lockdown: Cabinet Secretary Rajiv Gauba on reports of extending #CoronavirusLockdown (file pic) pic.twitter.com/xYuoZkgM5e
— ANI (@ANI) March 30, 2020
Several other news outlets have reported the same. Read The Hindu and Mint's reports.
One can view the comparison between the original telecast of India Today and the doctored photograph below.
Novel Coronavirus has emerged as a pandemic globally resulting in lockdowns across several countries and putting over 2.5 billion people under self-quarantine. It has killed over 47,500 people and infected close to 9,42,000 people so far. The tally of infected people in India stood at 2,032 with 58 deaths, so far.
Follow BOOM's LIVE blog here to stay updated on the latest about the spread of COVID-19 in India.