A screenshot claiming to show that News18 reported that over 5000 students tested positive for COVID-19 after appearing for a Karnataka state entrance exam for medical, dental and engineering aspirants is fake.
The viral graphic makes the fake claim that students who appeared for the Karnataka's Consortium of Medical, Engineering and Dental Colleges of Karnataka Under Graduate Entrance Test (COMEDK) tested positive and also spread the disease to their family members of which 57 'parents and grandparents' died due to the virus.
The fake screenshot in a bid to lend authenticity has been morphed to look like web story of News18. It is being shared with a screenshot of an authentic NDTV report about 60 students who were already COVID-19 positive appeared for the CET exam in Karnataka.
The posts aim to show that both articles are about students testing positive after appearing for entrance exams in the state. The fake posts are part of the widespread Twitter campaign mainly led by students against the Supreme Court and the Centre's nod to hold the Joint Engineering Entrance Exams (JEE) and National Eligibility Entrance Test (NEET) in September. On August 17, the Supreme Court ruled against further postponing the entrance exams while the Centre refused on August 25. Six state ministers have written to the Supreme Court to reconsider the exam dates due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.
Also Read:What Is The Controversy Surrounding NEET 2020? All You Need To Know
The News18 graphic riddled with errors reads," COMDEK UGNET 2020:57 deaths with 5371 students tested +ve for COVID-19, 8456 students quarantined." The headline spells COMEDK as 'COMDEK' and quarantined as 'quarantined'.
Ashutosh Kumar, National Vice-President of All India Students Union tweeted the fake News18 screenshot and the screenshot of the NDTV article, drawing comparison between the 80,000 students who appeared for the entrance exam to over 28 lakh students appearing for JEE, NEET, and the final year exams.
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The other posts which shared the same screenshot also used the fake claim to support the decision that the NEET and JEE exams should be postponed.
View archives here and here.
Fact Check
BOOM found that the News18 image was edited and fake and the NDTV report was being shared with a misleading context.
A search did not yield any results for news reports that students who appeared for the COMEDK exams or their parents had tested positive for COVID-19. We also searched on the News 18's website to see if they had published any story reporting deaths and COVID-19 cases but did not find any such story.
An analysis of the screenshot showed that the fake claim has been edited onto another story of News18. The original text discusses that the answer key for COMEDK UGET 2020 will be released on August 23.
The fake screenshot and the original news story bear the same timestamp of 4.56 pm
NDTV Story On COVID-19 Patients Appearing For Exams
The NDTV story does not relate to the COMEDK exams but is about how students who were already COVID-19 positive were allowed to appear for the CET exam for engineering, while following social distancing norms.
The story which is being used in a misleading context states that of the 1.47 lakh students who appeared for CET, 60 were COVID-19 positive. The story talks about separate seating arrangement and safety precautions followed for the COVID-19 positive students so they could appear for the entrance examination.
Also Read:Final Year Students Cannot Be Promoted Without Exams: Supreme Court