PIB Rubbishes Viral WhatsApp Audio Clip Claiming India Will Go Into A Lockdown

The Press Information Bureau's (PIB) official fact-checking Twitter handle on Sunday rubbished a viral audio clip, which claimed that India will go into a lockdown in the next five days on account of the increasing positive cases of COVID-19 in the country.

As many as 108 people have tested positive in the country so far.

In the tweet, the PIB Fact Check said the claims about a lockdown are fake and called the clip an attempt at 'scaremongering'.

BOOM was able to ascertain that the clip in question is an audio recording of a girl, who claims that her father, a medical practitioner in the armed forces, has confirmed that the country will go into a lockdown from the next week.

The girl quotes his father as saying, "that all the army hospitals are now in direct contact with the Ministry of Health and now they have been ordered to create quarantine facilities everywhere." The speaker claims that her father is in charge of one of the army hospitals, used for quarantining patients. She further quotes her father as saying that "the Ministry of Health has instructed that the country is going to go on a lockdown for at least a month in the next five days."

She then appeals to the listeners to decide whether "they want to go to their houses soon" or stay back wherever they are put, "as the situation will go worse." In the later part of the audio clip, she claims that the lockdown has been announced till April 15 and that the country will come to a standstill during the period. Later, she claims that the information is completely legitimate, as her 'father is in direct contact with the ministry.'

BOOM has chosen not to include the viral clip. The clip has been doing the rounds on Whatsapp with the caption, "Some girl saying her army officer dad is in contact with the ministry of health who says k Country will go into lockdown within 5 days."

The audio is also viral with another message which appeals people to stock up grocery in the next five days, as 'situation will worsen.' It is not clear who is behind the audio clip.